The Queen s Daughter
by xQueenxElsax
Summary: Diana s secret is revealed and her daughter runs away from Themyscira. If Diana wants her child back, she will have to face her past. A past and a man she thought were long forgotten... BMWW, SMLL.
1. Chapter 1

**THE QUEEN´S DAUGHTER**

**CHAPTER ONE: FAMILY SECRETS**

**Thanks SO much to Mari (Narumi-Chlan) for her priceless help! Love you hun!**

Sixteen years had gone away since the last time Shayera visited Themyscira. But she still remembered very well the island´s location and the greek beauty of the landscape. It was the closest to actual paradise she had ever been. She fully understood why the amazon was so fond of her home. Diana. All those years went by after the last time she ever spoke to the princess of the amazons too. It was a long time, so much had happened. She looked like a woman nearing his forties, which she actually was, and she smirked thinking Diana would look exactly the same. Lucky her.

"The same… but not younger" she gasped suddenly, taking a step back and freezing.

Because as soon as she landed over one of the beaches, next to a rocky shore, a fifteen years old girl jumped to the sand in front of her, resting on one of her knees.

She was holding an arch, aiming an arrow straight to her heart, and she had on her wrists the typical bullet proof silver bracelets Shayera knew so well. The hair was longer and the skin was clearer, but she would recognize the ebony locks of her braid and the steel blue eyes anywhere.

"D-Diana?" She asked with a faltering voice, looking at the girl up and down slowly and carefully. She shook her head and stood up, intrigued by the fact the stranger called her by that name. The arch immediately went down. Her moves were smooth, light and agile. _So__much__like__…_

"I´m not Queen Diana. I´m her daughter, Princess Sophia…" The girl´s answer interrupted her thoughts.

"Daughter?"

_Diana has a daughter?_

"Sophie!"

A second after they heard her voice and looked to the woods, Diana´s horse emerged from the green darkness and descended from her ride once she saw her daughter. Then, her gaze fixed on Shayera´s. Sophia ran to her.

"Mom! I think she knows you."

Hawkgirl looked in turns from mother to daughter and vice versa. No wonder she got confused. The women were two identical drops of water. Diana hugged her daughter and whispered something to her ear. The girl nodded instantly, kissed her mother´s cheek and jumped over the black horse, riding away with an impressive skill. Diana watched her go lovingly and, once the youngster disappeared, she walked to her former colleague. Her tall, slim figure glowed like sunlight inside the cloudy white of her tunic. Under the weight of her crown, she was majesty herself.

"This is unbelievable. I… I thought she was you."

Diana smiled at the comment. She liked talking about Sophia.

"They say we are alike. Like mother, like daughter."

"Who is her father? How old is she? Seventeen?"

"She´s only fifteen. But she´s tall, and she trains a lot. She´s a prodigy with those arrows."

"I´ve noticed her moves are good." Shayera nodded.

"Better than myself, I´m proud to admit."

"Is she his daughter?"

The question made Diana frown. She thought she would never have to bring up the subject again. It was buried, very deep, and it was fine with her.

"What are you doing here, Shayera?" Diana´s tone wasn´t welcoming I the first place, she wasn´t sure if she could trust the woman. But now, it became frankly hostile.

"Same old Diana. You don´t have to keep your guard up all the time. Can´t you show some joy when an old friend visits?"

"Friend? You threw Thanagar´s army over us! They were going to kill us all! If that is you as a friend, I would rather not have you as an enemy."

"I am not your enemy, and I don´t want to be. Give me a chance! They just wanted to save our planet, I´m sure you can understand the weight of a crown and a kingdom. I didn´t command them to do what they did, I wasn´t even informed of their plans. I stopped them, I saved you all. I deserve some recognition for that. Now I´m no one for those of my own kind and for everyone in this planet. It is hard, you know? You must understand the loneliness…"

Shayera´s voice broke. It was clear the situation wasn´t easy for her. She wasn´t happy with what she did, but she had no choice. Her watery eyes made Diana´s harshness melt down.

"You´re right. I´ve spent sixteen years thinking about it. I am glad you´re still alive." Diana extender her hand to her. "Oil and vinegar?"

"Oil and vinegar." She responded, shaking it. "But you are the vinegar."

"I missed arguing with you." Finally, a smile curled he amazon´s lips.

"I missed you too. But you don´t seem to trust me. Answer my question."

"I don´t want to talk about it. No one was supposed to know of her existence."

"So she is the real reason you left… You didn´t have any duty back here as you said."

"Yes, I did. I attended to both reasons. Don´t you dare judge me…"

Shayera sighed, thinking of another way to approach her.

"She seems like a wonderful girl."

"She is. I´m very proud of her."

"And she deserves the truth."

"How to raise my daughter is something for me to decide…"

"You are not her only parent and you know it. What lies did you tell her?"

"I am the only parent she can count on. This conversation is over."

Every sign of a smile disappeared from her features, she was upset and annoyed by the woman´s insistence. She turned around to walk away but, Shayera grabbed her arm. She tried to be as soft as possible.

"Diana… wait. I don´t really know how to tell you this…"

"Then, start for the beginning…"

"He really needs to see you again. He´s trying to hide it, but I can see it in his eyes. He never forgot you."

"He married someone else, Shayera… That´s forgetting me already."

"He´s sick in love with you. Give the guy a break. It was hard for him, too."

"You´ve always been a close friend to him…"

"Not in the way you used to think…"

"There is nothing left for us. He has his family and I have mine. We belong to two different worlds that would never collide."

"She died, and he is alone. Don´t be so stubborn, woman. Go and see him. If Sophia is his daughter, he deserves to know… You owe him that. She is family to both of you."

For a second, the words got to Diana´s heart. But she knew it would be useless. If Shayera´s word were true, it would make the heartache worst.

"I don´t owe him anything."

"Do you have stone instead of heart, Diana?"

"I lost my heart when he broke it."

.-.-.-.-.-

Sophia was never defiant with her mother and she always did as she was told, but she was a very intuitive girl too. She had a pang that the conversation on the beach would change her destiny forever. And when she had a hunch, she was never wrong. So instead of finding her aunt Donna as she was instructed to, she went right back and, hidden beneath the trees, she heard it all. And she was right. Her world was stumbling down around her and with every word it started to spin faster. Nothing would be the same again. Everything she thought she was got smashed like paper.

Once she saw the stranger fly away and her mother walking back through the beach, she wiped her tears and tried to calm down her trembling hands. Her whole life had been a lie, and she only had her mother to blame for it. She used to think it was perfect, and now nothing around her made any sense. This wasn´t the world she belonged to, because the amazon princess was only half of her. She knew she had duties as the throne heiress, but nothing justified the ways her mother used to keep her on the island. _Knowing__how__much__I__wanted__to__go__to__the__outside__world__as__she__had__been,__she__always__forbid__me,__and__say__I__didn´t__belong__there.__But__I__do!_ Squeezing the rage between her teeth she walked back into her room. It was so unfair.

Sophia sighed when she realized how little she knew about her mother´s former life. Before she became, well, what she was. Her mum. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn´t fly as her mother could, even when she could jump way higher than the other amazons. And she was the only one who could match –and sometimes even outdo- her wits. Until that very day, she was proud of her mother. She constantly questioned her about her days in man´s world. She was always very open about the things she learned there and the way it worked, but never said anything about the people she met.

Someone knocked at the door.

"Come in." She responded distractedly, no bothering to ask who was calling. Diana´s heart sank when she saw her baby girl crying.

"What´s wrong, Sophie?" she asked worriedly, sitting next to her daughter and hugging her tenderly. Sophia looked down and pulled away from her.

"Don´t touch me…" She said in a low voice. Her mother frowned, confused and her worry grew heavier.

"What…? What´s going on, Sophia?"

"You lied to me all this years, mum. You never told me I had a father. You forbid me to leave this island when half of me is out there. Just go away now…"

A pang of consternation crumpled Diana´s heart. She felt indeed a liar for hiding this from Sophie, but she wanted to protect her. She wanted what was best for her. Now, she felt the worst mother ever. She didn´t know a thing about maternity when she got pregnant, and she was all by herself. She left her mother´s side and she was paying the price… she didn´t want to give her daughter a reason to go away as she did.

"I´m sorry, my little sun and stars. I only wanted what was best for you… because I love you so much. You mean everything to me…"

"That is not true. You wanted what was best for you, keeping me here. You forbid me to leave, when you know I belong out there. You allowed me to believe I was like you all this years. Did you never think I could understand? There´s no reason to ever think a lie is better than the truth. Who told you that you had a right to decide what is best for me?"

Diana´s heart sank with this words, because partly it was true. Partly, she lied to her child to protect herself.

"Baby, I´m your mother, I am the one supposed to know that. Everything I did, I did it out of love."

"Don´t `baby` me, mother. I´m not a baby anymore. You should stop treating me like one. If you love me, then let me go!" She hissed.

"Don´t talk to me like that, young lady. No matter how mad you are or what I did, you´re still my daughter and you owe me some respect."

"And I´m not proud of that anymore."

Diana´s suspicions were already up to the sky, and she hissed back to her daughter.

"Listen to me very carefully, Sophia, because I´m deadly serious. Man´s world is off limits for you and so is your father, whoever he is. So forget this conversation ever happened."

"So you´re not even going to tell me who he is?"

"No, I won´t. And I don´t want to hear about this again. Go to sleep."

An upset Diana walked away and closed the door behind her, shaking from head to toe too as she left her daughter even more angry than before. It was a disaster. She couldn´t believe the behavior of her child. She had been such a quiet nice girl always, very smart and skillful, but never a rebel. And she wasn´t going to tell her she was Bruce Wayne´s daughter. He didn´t deserve to know of her existence. But yet, she wanted to talk with Sophie again when they were both rested and calmed. During breakfast the next day.

.-.-.-.-.-

Sophia knew her mother took a lonely walk along the beach every night, so she hid behind the ferns on the side of the hallway, a prudent distance away from her door and observed. The girl had to wait half an hour before she saw Diana leave.

She carefully walked into the room, making no noise at all and headed to the trunk at the bottom of her mother´s bed. The only thing Diana ever told her daughter about it was that she kept things of her past in there, of no importance. Like old clothing and books. Sophia was never particularly curious, but now she knew exactly the kind of things she would find beneath the lid: the things her mother kept from the years she had been away and possibly something she could use to find her father. Because she made up her mind even before her mother left her room. She was leaving and nothing would stop her.

She turned on the lights and kneeled next to the chest, taking a deep breath before opening it. The thick patina of dust rose like a storm when she moved the lid and it made her cough a few times. Her eyes opened wide and she gasped.

The first thing she found was the amazon´s champion´s armor. For a moment, she tried to imagine her mother wearing it and the kind of dangers she faced. The girl knew she was a dreadful warrior and the bravest hero. In some ways, she understood her frustration. _Hurry__up,__Sophia,__she__will__be__back__soon_. So she put it all aside. She was about to grab the golden lasso when she remembered what Diana told her, that she wasn´t aware of it´s powers and couldn´t use it well because she had stolen the armor. She decided not to do the same and left it on the floor again. Her mother became the rightful champion years ago, when she came back, and Sophia knew one day that would be herself.

She took a pair of boots, a pair of jeans and a white shirt. She wanted to dress like any other girl out there, she wasn´t an outsider and she didn´t want to feel like one. She kept digging, pulling away some books and more pieces of cloth. At the bottom of it all she found what she was looking for: a little brown bag tied up with a lace.

"Finally. The money." She whispered relieved and opened the bag, but she didn´t find money in there. A shinning necklace fell onto her hands. "Diamonds. Well, this is going to be useful anyway."

She added the necklace to the holdall with her outfit and kept looking. She didn´t find anything useful, until on the corner she discovered a notebook, with leather covers and her mother´s name engraved on it. She quickly scanned through the pages. It was her mother´s writing. It was, it was… her mother´s diary! She didn't read it, but it couldn´t be anything else. She was about to throw it immediately with the other stuff when the first page called her attention. There was a black and white picture pasted on it. It showed her mother wearing the champion´s armor and standing next to a man. They were both smiling. She ran her hand over the picture and read the inscription someone scribbled over the same first page "Two thousand white pages for you to use well. With love, …"

But the signature was unreadable.

"So… this is my father. I don´t know what happened between you two that made you wish not to see him again and hide his existence from me, mom. But I am going to find out."

As she heard steps coming closer, she quickly replaced the stuff she got out and left through the open balcony doors.

**N/A: Reviews, please? O.o Let me know if this is worth a next chapter…!**


	2. Mommy & me

**THE QUEEN´S DAUGHTER.**

**CHAPTER II: MOMMY & ME**

**Thanks for the reviews and the favoriting =) It really keeps me going ^^**

**Thanks to Mari for her support again :D**

Sophie felt relieved her room was next to her mother´s, so she had no troubles jumping onto her own balcony before anyone spotted her. The night was chilly and clear, and she stood admiring the beauty of the island under the diamond splintered sky.

It was the last night sky she would see from Themyscira for a very long time. It was so for her.

She quietly walked onto her room and threw the holdall next to her bed. She breathed in deeply and tried to organize her thoughts. There were so many ideas fighting for her attention…

"First thing I need is a shower."

Being practical and methodical woman, as at her short age she already was, the girl walked out of the bathroom after some scarce minutes. She grabbed the jeans and white shirt to put them on, but decided she needed a little sleep first, so she jumped onto her nightgown instead.

The first thing she regretted was not grabbing the golden lasso. Suddenly it seemed like something that could be really useful out there, something she really needed to have with her. _Damn__it._

Sat down on her dresser, she started brushing her hair absent mindedly when the sound of the door opening behind her made Sophia look up.

Through the mirror she saw Diana walk in and place a tray of food down in front of her. Sophie´s eyes opened wide and her hand stopped cold half the way down her head._I__change__my__mind.__I__'__m__so__glad__I__didn__'__t__take__that__lasso._

Because Diana walked in wearing the amazon's champion armor.

"Let me do that for you" she smiled, grabbing the brush.

Sophie couldn't help to smile. Above all, this was the thing she liked about her mother the most: she was the most loving and caring person in the world. Her departure would certainly break her heart. The girl sighed. She was mad, but she didn´t hate her. Sometimes collateral damage was just… necessary.

"Thank you, mommy."

Sophie knew her mother liked it when she called her like that. And after running away, whenever she did get to see her again, she would need a lot of her good will to be forgiven.

"You're welcome, princess. Aren't you hungry?" Diana asked, leaving the brush down and kissing her daughters cheek.

"A bit." She nodded. "Are you?"

The tray over her dresser had some bread, cheese, grapes and water. Diana nodded and took one of the grapes.

"Do you like the costume? I wanted to show it to you."

"It's not a costume, mom. It's an armor."

"Aren't you feisty, young lady?" Diana giggled and sat down. Sophia frowned.

"Aren't we all supposed to be that? Warriors?"

"Yes, we are. But that's the way we keep things nice and quiet around the island. If you want peace, you have to be ready for war."

That made the young girl squirm. She only knew about war what she had been told.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I was mad because you lied to me."

"So you're not mad anymore?"

"Of course I am."

"I am very sorry I did so. You'll understand someday."

"I won't if you don't explain it."

"Are we going to go over this once and again, Sophie?"

"I don't want my life to be a huge unanswered question."

"Why is suddenly everything you have here not enough? Why am I suddenly not enough anymore?" The pain in Diana´s voice was plain obvious. Sophia sighed and looked down.

"I didn't mean that. I mean... Now I feel there's a big part of me missing, and... I don't know who I am anymore. I want to know who I am."

"That doesn't come from finding your father, Sophie. That comes from finding yourself."

"What did he do to hurt you so badly?"

"I'm not going to talk about that."

"Because you still love him, don't you? After all this years... You didn't forget him... So you lied."

Diana didn't reply because, for a moment, she didn't know what to say. For some reason, she couldn't simply deny it, and she refused to accept the obvious reason: she couldn't deny it because it might be true. Sophia nearly regretted her words when she looked up and saw the hurt in her mother's eyes. A heart-wrenching sorrow she had never seen before. Usually, Diana's eyes lightened up when her little girl was around. She was so devoted to her child that sometimes the amazons asked her to break the bad news to the Queen, knowing she very, very rarely lost her temper with the princess.

"It´s _way_ more complicated than that. Don´t talk about things you don´t understand."

"It's not that complicated. You´re treating me like a baby again. I´m old and smart enough to understand. Shayera is right. You should go and find him. He stills love you too..."

Now, Diana was convinced her child was completely insane. She was glad her answer gave her a reason to change the subject. Talking about him was just too painful.

Diana had been successfully burying deep inside her soul for sixteen years the flamed up and passionate woman Bruce awakened inside of her. The woman who was still mad about him. The one who craved his kisses and his touch, the one who would give up everything to be in his arms again, to look into his eyes once more, to surrender to the wonderful sensation of reaching the frenzy heights of pleasure with him. She admitted he wasn't the only one she ever slept with, but he was the only one who left her hungry for more. The only one to fully satisfy her. An amazon burning up in want for a man. How stupid was that. So once more she crossed her arms and sent that woman back to the bottom of her mind. She wished she would never come back. She hated her. She hated those feelings she was afraid to discover she might still have. She was glad they were miles and ages apart and she wouldn´t be seeing him again. Not in a million years.

When she finally spoke, her tone was deadly serious.

"Which reminds me, young lady, what did you think you were doing overhearing my conversation?"

"It was an accident." She responded innocently.

"It wasn't. I remember telling you very clearly to go and find your aunt Donna."

"You are impossible!" She growled and ran away, lying face down on the bed. Diana sat next to her and stroked her hair.

"I'm not."

"Is there anything you can tell me?" She sobbed into her pillow.

"Sit down."

"No." She cried more.

"Sit sown. Now." She repeated authoritatively. The girl growled again and did so. Diana wiped her tears gently and pecked her nose with her index finger.

"That´s better, thank you. It's breaking my heart to see you like this." She smiled softly and placed her hands on her daughters shaking shoulders. "There is something I can tell you. I have a beautiful daughter and I'm very proud of her. She's a bright and talented young woman and the best princess Themyscira could ever have. She's my baby girl and she's perfect. I love her more than my own life and I won't let anything or anyone hurt her, ever. If something ever happened to her, I would never forgive myself."

When Diana finished, Sophia was smiling too and hugged her tightly. "I love you too."

Diana hugged her back and rubbed her back, relieved.

"I know."

"But I´m not the best princess, you were."

"Oh, shut up."

The answer made Sophia giggle.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, you can."

"You don't hate men like the other amazons do. Is that because you met someone good out there? You learned they are not all bad, didn´t you? You changed."

Diana sighed. She didn't want to make her child suffer anymore. She didn't want to feel as horrible as she did anymore either. She wanted to be a hundred percent back in Themyscira. She wanted to be the best mother for her. And the only way to drop aside the subject was telling the truth.

"Yes, I did. I found out a lot of things and I changed. He was a very good friend."

_Good. Finding an old friend of hers is a good place to start. Maybe he will know something._

"Can I know his name?"

"What for? Actually, I haven´t heard from him in a very long while."

"I just want to know... Something about that part of your life." She shrugged nonchalantly.

Diana thought the answer would be harmless and it had to calm Sophie down.

"Clark."

"Thank you. Please don't leave me."

"I will never leave you, my little sun and stars. Now, lay down and sleep."

Diana pulled them both back to the bed and cuddled her daughter close to her. They didn´t sleep together since Sophie was a very little girl.

"Why do you call me like that, mum?"

Diana looked into her daughter´s eyes and took a second more than necessary to reply. The words stuck on her throat and her voice faltered.

"That´s how my mother used to call me."

Sophie opened her mouth to ask something, but she decided not to do so. She knew she had opened many of her mother´s wounds in the last hours and she didn´t want to hurt her more. Instead, she closed her eyes.

"Good night, mommy."

"Good night, my princess."

An emotionally exhausted Sophia felt asleep immediately. Diana was left alone with her thoughts and she stroked her daughter´s hair, watching her sleep. She would do whatever to protect her.

When sunlight was starting to creep up the sky on the horizon, she finally surrendered to a restless sleep. It had been a hard day for both of them.

.-.-.-.-.-

Sophia woke up two hours after her mother finally gave up and slowly crawled out of the bed, carefully enough to avoid waking her. She knew her mother probably spent hours watching her sleep before falling asleep herself, watching over her. That was just the kind of things Diana did. She was an overprotective parent. She remembered having a very strange dream and she immediately put it to the back of her mind. She would think about it later. Dreams could sometimes be very important.

After her conversation with her mother, Sophia had grown years in just a few hours. She remembered the pain she saw in her eyes. What terrible thing did her father do to her to cause such sorrow? What kind of man was he? What kind of man was Clark, her mother´s friend, the one who gave her hope in mankind? Why didn´t she fall in love with him instead? Why didn´t she look for him in all this years? She had so many questions.

But the princess of the amazons had a new mission now. She would find her father, and once she knew what happened she would decide if she had to take vengeance on her mother´s behalf.

**A/N: Sorry if it was a bit boring. Comments, please?**


	3. Flying the nest

**THE QUEEN´S DAUGHTER**

**CHAPTER III: FLYING THE NEST.**

**Thanks for the reviews and the favoritings. Keep them coming! You´re the best. Mwahs.**

**And thanks to my beta for her support :) Hugs hunni! And good luck ;)**

**So, this is it…**

It was barely dawn. Sun was lazily creeping out through a purple stained sky. A worried and very careful Sophia quietly left her room and became a shadow sliding into the kitchen. She grabbed exactly the same things her mother brought her the night before –bread, cheese and grapes-. Diana did know her daughter´s favorite food. She tried to be as good passing unnoticed on her way out as she was when coming in, but she got lost in her thoughts and she tripped with her human mirror in the middle of the halfway. _Don´t get distracted, silly_.

"Aunt Donna!" she gasped.

"Where are you going, Miss Cellophane?"

Sophie smirked at the nickname her aunt used to refer her skill to go by undetected.

"Back to my room…"

"Why are you outside your room this early?"

She shrugged nervously

"I went to get some breakfast. I´m so hungry. And, hey, you´re up too…" she stuttered, holding the food closely against her.

"I´m always up this early. Don´t eat too much. Remember we have horse riding lessons today."

"I won´t forget. I´ll go get Black Thunder ready in a bit."

"Good. Have you seen your mother?"

"She´s still asleep, obviously. But I´ll tell her to find you as soon as she´s up."

"Thank you. I´ll see you later."

Donna walked away and Sophia loudly sighed in relief, finally inhaling some air again. _That was close_.

She regained her room in complete silence and stuffed the food inside her holdall. She brushed her hair and put on the jeans, boots and white shirt she rescued from Diana´s chest. At last –but not least- she grabbed her arch and the quiver with her arrows. All without the sound of even the slightest breeze. She was nearly ready. She took a glimpse and her image in the mirror and it certainly took all of her will power not to burst out laughing. She raised her hands to her mouth and stifled her giggles.

"_I am a princess because my mother is a queen?" Where did you get this mom?_

Sophie kneeled beside her mother and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Bye, mom. I love you. I hope you can forgive me one day. I hope you can understand. And I hope to see you again soon. I´ll miss you. Lots. I am a princess because you are a Queen…"

She slid her hand underneath the duvet and dexterously grabbed the magical golden lasso, saving it inside the holdall too. The Queen didn´t even flinch, but guilt did make the princess shiver.

And that was all. She only needed to reach the invisible plane without being seen.

.-.-.-.-.-

Hours later Donna walked into Sophia´s room nervously. She rolled her eyes when she finally found her sister lying on the princess´s bed. _After I´ve been looking for ages_! She sat next to Diana and shook her arm forcefully.

"Diana, Diana…"

The Queen slowly stirred and sat up.

"Oh, Hera, what time is it?"

Donna frowned and ignored the question.

"I can´t find Sophie."

"What? But she was here, sleeping beside me."

"I saw her going for her breakfast very early today, but now I can´t find her. We were supposed to go on riding classes."

"She´s very good at riding already, you can let her pass today." Diana yawned and ran her hand through her disheveled hair.

"Diana, is not that. She´s gone."

"That´s silly. Where…" Suddenly, realization painted Diana´s face with horror and she turned from sleeping beauty to huntress in full alert in a second. "No, no, no. Please, no."

"No… what?"

"Did you ask Artemis?"

But before Donna could reply, the door opened and the very same amazon ran into the room, out of breath.

"Finally, Diana, there you are."

"Artemis, what´s wrong?"

"The invisible jet. It´s gone!"

She squeezed the pillow in powerless desperation and looked down, only to notice the golden lasso was gone too. _She did it! By Hera, she did it!_

And she screamed out loud.

.-.-.-.-.-

By the time her mother found out, Sophia had already hit her intended destination and she was freely walking across man´s world. The trip was shorter than she had expected. She felt really proud.

At first, she had to walk around with her hands over her ears because the streets were excruciatingly noisy. People walked too fast. Buildings were too tall and shiny. Everything was spinning too quick.

She felt dizzy before she reached the third block.

The amazon tried to take a breath and observe how everyone around her was dressed. She saw all kinds of clothes, some of them were similar to the ones she put on, others were grayish and strained looking. She also saw women with dresses, but the dresses were different to those they wore on Themyscira: so light and airy. And it was so hot. She really missed her short light blue dress. She sighed.

"You can´t wear your light blue dress."

And out of curiosity, she started observing the men. Some had gray hair and dark outfits –her mother said they used them to work-, others had trousers similar to her own, some were young, others not that much. She specially stared at the young ones. She found them all so… _nice_. Diana never taught her daughter to hate men, and therefore she didn´t. But still she was… quite reluctant to accept them completely. There were so many things around her that trying to spot everything on her surroundings was driving her crazy. It was so much to learn! Her gaze fell over a young couple sat on a bench and kissing. They noticed her intent stare when they broke apart, and a menace flamed up on the girl´s eyes. Before the loved up youngsters could notice Sophia blushing, a woman walked by between them and her attention floated somewhere else completely, behind the baby boy she was carrying and the little girl holding her hand.

"Kids. I´ve never seen kids before. They look so adorable."

Sophie was admiring the woman´s beautiful red hair when she started crossing the street. It reminded her or Artemis. _Everything reminds me home._ A very thoughtless driver had to stab his foot into the brakes to help running over the pedestrians and the three cars behind him also stopped, claxons furiously complaining. The man shouted something at the woman. The little boy started crying and the girl hugged her mother´s leg.

"By Hera, can´t you stop the deafening racket?"

Then, a woman hurriedly left the store behind her and hit Sophia´s shoulder, sending her to the floor. She didn´t stop to help her out, she didn´t look back. The young amazon only saw a blond hair pulled back in a bun too tight, and a navy blue suit of skirt and jacket –also too tight- walking away at full speed. Her aggressor had a hand next to her ear holding a small device and she was yelling something hysterically.

"I have to find out what that device is and why it prevents people from helping someone they just hit."

She stood up upset and shook the dirt out of her clothes. Incredible. _No one_ noticed.

Disgusted, she crossed the street to enter the park on the other side -drivers were still furiously hitting the claxon, this time, at her-. She sat on a bench and looked up to the flowering trees. What am I doing here? What am I going to do?

"Finally" she smiled "Something that looks like home."

She picked up one of the cotton-white flowers from the floor and slowly pulled out the petals, one by one. It was a very comfortable distraction. When she raised her head again she noticed the red haired woman had taken a sit beside her and she tripped with her daughter´s intense and piercing stare.

"Hey." She smiled. She actually already liked this… tiny little persons. Well… maybe not that much. "Ouch" she yelped when the girl took a step closer and pulled at her braid.

"You have nice hair." She said, observing Sophie with sheer curiosity. "You´re pretty."

"Don´t do that, Amelia." Her mother scolded her and smiled apologetically. "Sorry."

"It´s okay. Thank you, Amelia. That´s because I´m a princess."

The little monster´s eyes opened wide in amazement.

"Really? A Princess?"

Sophie giggled and nodded. "Yes, and all princesses have lovely hair. My mommy haves nice hair too."

"Your mommy is a princess too?"

"No." Sophie sighed sadly when she thought about Diana. "My mommy is a Queen."

The child gasped and her little hands rose to her mouth. Her eyes suddenly opened wide..

"Wow. She haves a crown?"

Sophia nodded. "And she looks very pretty when she wears it."

"Your mommy is pretty Queen." She nodded. "Why don´t you wear your princess dress?" She asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"I didn´t want it to get dirty."

"That´s silly. Princess´s dresses don´t get dirty."

"My mommy wanted to keep it."

The little girl shook her head in disapproval.

"Bad mommy. Do you know princess Jasmine?"

Sophie frowned. _Who the hell is princess Jasmine?_

"No, I don´t think I know her."

"And Cinderella? Do you know her?"

Sophie thought again. _Who?_

"I´m sorry. I don´t."

The girl sighed exasperated.

"Or little mermaid. Do you know princess Melody? She looks like you." (A/N: Melody is Ariel´s daughter.)

_A mermaid? Where does she get all those strange characters?_

"I don´t. I´m an amazon, we don´t talk to mermaids."

The girl pouted and crossed her arms in disgust. "You´re not a good princess."

And her attention went back to her mother.

"Mommy, are you a Queen too?"

"Yes, I am baby."

"Yay." She clapped delighted and ran away. The mother thanked Sophie for her patience and for making up the story for the kid.

_Huh? I didn´t make up a story._

Sophie rubbed her head –it still hurt from the hair pull- and walked away from the park. She needed to keep moving if she ever wanted to get her task done. Thinking of her mother really got into her heart and a heavy sadness washed over her. _Calm down, Sophia. You´re not gonna see her for a long, long while. And when you do, she´s going to be mad. Like, really mad._ So she grabbed the little bag where she had the diamond necklace hidden and took it out to admire it. It was beautiful, and the sunlight reflecting in a magical rainbow was mesmerizing. For a second, she held it closely against her chest. She didn´t want to give it away –it probably meant a lot to Diana-, but she had no choice. Surviving without money wasn´t an option. Neither was stealing. She would get something for her mother in return. Something big enough to pay up for it. She turned into an alley in saved it back into the brown container… and then, someone ripped it out of her hand and ran away frantically. The amazon jolted in surprise and reacted immediately.

"Hey, stop!" A young man´s voice shouted behind Sophia.

Undisturbed, she grabbed her arch and one of her arrows. Ruthlessly, she shot.

The arrow went straight through the bag, recovered the jewelry from the thief´s hand, and stabbed the wall. _Bulls eye._

The boy, who had the intention to pursue Sophie´s attacker, froze in amazement. She walked to the wall and picked up her arrow and her necklace, watching him over the corner of her eye. Tall, well built, black hair, blue eyes. He could be her brother. She couldn´t help to giggle.

"You know, I don´t need someone watching my back." She said, turning to face him. She still didn´t trust men completely…

That lasted until she saw him grin confidently. And her own feelings –those butterflies tickling inside her stomach- made her blush lightly. It would be a lie to say she wanted him to go away, as every other amazon would say she should. And, well, he seemed _very_ comfortable around her.

"Alex Kent." He introduced, extending his hand to her.

She shook it. The strength of his handshake was appealing, and it´s gentleness was charming. He was a charmer, and she definitely didn´t want him to leave.

"I´m Sophia. Prince…"

"Nice to meet you, Sophia Prince." He cut her off, before she finished saying she was the princess of Themyscira.

"Nice to meet you too, Alex. You can call me Sophie."

"Well, Sophie. I would strongly advice you don´t go showing that around." He pointed to the little bag in her hand. She frowned, that wasn´t charming at all. She wasn´t one to be told what to do.

"As my mother would say, I can deal with my own disasters." She replied coldly.

"Come on, sugar. You don´t mention your mother to a guy you just met."

Sophia turned around startled. She found a blond, green-eyed girl, smirking behind her with her arms crossed. The boy standing next to her could easily be her twin.

"I´m Amanda Queen. And this is my twin brother, Ryan."

Oh, he really was.

"You´re twins? I would have never guessed…" She raised an eyebrow. "I´m Sophia Prince."

She liked the way it sounded… and she also liked the fact he made it up for her. She was better not telling she was a princess.

"I see you already met Mr. Prince Charming."

"I think you just met Miss Viper…" Alex retorted.

"Hey, don´t call my sister that."

"Ryan, don´t start."

Amanda smirked in amusement and raised her hand to silence her brother. She looked at Sophia up and down with a poker face.

"Gosh, were did you get those clothes? They´re like a hundred. You have definitely no style…"

Sophia frowned, offended. She had tried her best to look like everyone else. She didn´t care about the_… style_.

"Well, I wouldn´t say…"

"No, no. That wasn´t a question. And those arrows. You look too much like my father. Olddd."

"Your father?"

"Yes, you know. Green Arrow."

"Green Arrow?"

"He´s our father. And Smallville here is Superman´s son. What´s your story?" Ryan asked her, eyeing her up and down too, in a different way than her sister just did.

Sophie frowned and started thinking. _What was my mother called in man´s world? Miracle Lady? Marvel Girl? No, it was Woman… That´s it._

"Wonder Woman. My mother is… was Wonder Woman."

Sophie realized she made a big mistake before she saw their jaws drop.

**A/N: Please let me know what you think :) *Little green button twinkling twinkling***


	4. Tell me something I don t know

**THE QUEEN´S DAUGHTER**

**CHAPTER FOUR: TELL ME SOMETHING I DON´T KNOW.**

**Hello everyone! Thanks for all the priceless support, keep it coming! :D**

**Since I´m bringing Batman in for this chapter, I want to expose my POV about the character, so he won´t be OOC. I´ll try to stick to it as much as it´s humanly possible. I think that the playboy of Bruce´s persona is as much a façade as the dark, despiteful Batman is, and the real man is stuck between them both, he´s the one Alfred and Lucius Fox get to know, which is none of them. So… I informed you thusly :D.**

**Please, read and review (In that order^^). Opinions, ideas, critics and corrections are always needed and welcomed.**

**Also, thanks so much to Mari once again :D You rock!**

**Y gracias a Speis por hacerme escuchar Buena música! Esto va para ti… :)**

**.-.-.-.-.-**

"Of course, that´s why you looked familiar. You look like every picture of your mother I´ve seen."

"You´ve seen pictures… of my mother?" Sophie asked Alex in a faltered, emotion-filled voice.

Amanda rolled her eyes.

"Of course he has. We all have. His father…"

"What happened with her? Where is she? What are you doing here?"

"Please." Sophie interrupted with an anguished tone, despair filling her features. She grabbed hers and Alex´s forearms. "You can´t tell anybody who I am, who my mother is. Promise."

"Why would we promise that?" Amanda scoffed. Gritting her teeth, Sophie squeezed her arm tighter.

Yes, she would think twice before defying the legendary amazon´s daughter.

"Okay, okay. I promise."

"But, why? Why is it such a secret?" Ryan asked. Sophia sighed and released her hostages.

"Because I´m trying to find my father." She whispered, no relieved at all. She didn´t know how much could she trust them. "Of course, you can´t say that either."

"But Sophie…" Alex started, placing his hand on her arm. Her gaze immediately shot to the point where their skin made contact. "My father would really…"

He stopped when the dark figure landed beside them and his gaze immediately fixed on Sophie. When he stood, she had to take a step back. She was tall, but he was taller. The man in the black suit was dreadful and intimidating. Silence washed over them like a tide.

"Great. Time for the bat to spoil the fun." Amanda hissed. He shot her a deathly glare.

She grabbed Sophie´s arm and whispered to her ear.

"I´m sorry about before, I stand corrected. When your mother is Wonder Woman, you can mention her whenever you want. Even in your T-shirt."

The amazon grimaced. _Stupid T-shirt!_

Both siblings left in the blink of an eye. No look back, no further words. The Dark Knight turned to Alex. Something in his voice made Sophie shiver when he spoke. It wasn´t nice or friendly, and it certainly didn´t inspire trust.

"You should go too, Alex."

He crossed his arms and smirked. The boy wouldn´t allow it to be intimidated in front of his new acquaintance. Specially, in front of her.

"Or what? You´ll tell my father?"

"I´ll call your mother."

"Don´t do that."

He hastily said good bye to Sophie and left.

"Bye." She mumbled, surprised.

He didn´t notice until he arrived home that he had no way to reach her again. _Damn it_! _Will she be that mad if I break my word to tell my father and get his help to find her?_

.-.-.-.-.-

The princess was lost in her thoughts when she heard the man´s voice again.

"You are an amazon, aren´t you?"

Sophia gulped, realizing that she was left alone with him. She turned around. He stared at her up and down, as if trying to understand something he couldn´t quite believe, until he finally grabbed her hands to check on her bracelets. It was confusing and annoying, why did she raise the interest of every person she met? She wasn´t expecting that. She didn´t expect people to still remember her mother. Except, perhaps, her father.

But she couldn´t find that out until he was found first, and there was no time to waste.

"Yes, I am… an amazon princess." She replied in a low voice, removing her hands.

That was all the confirmation he needed. The girl was, without a doubt, Diana´s daughter. No wonder then about the astounding resemblance. He stood in front of her, seemingly unperturbed, and she looked into his eyes defiantly. She was taken abash by what she saw. Her attitude immediately changed from aggressive and defensive to somehow soft and understanding.

"My name is Sophia."

Her voice seemed to turn his thoughts back on.

"Do you have a place to stay?"

"No, not yet."

He was mesmerized by her. He needed to say something that would keep her close. Despite everything she did, he still needed her. Like air. But she wasn´t coming back. _Why is her child here?_

"I have a friend who can help you."

"That would be nice." She smiled. He wasn´t that dark, mean or scary after all.

_Did she need to have her smile too? I just hope she can´t sing. Please, don´t sing._

He wrapped his arm around her waist and they took fly. Sophia screamed. She needed a few seconds to understand the gadget he was using to pull them through the city buildings. She watched him do and absorbed the pleasant sights sunset painted for her. And as suddenly as they rose, they were back on the floor. She couldn´t help to gasp at the view in front of her.

It was a huge white mansion, with those gorgeous large windows, and the garden. The amazingly perfect garden. It must the most impressive thing she ever saw.

"Ring the bell and ask for Bruce Wayne. Tell him Batman sends you."

She turned to say thank you, but he was gone. Light and quick as a whisper.

"Thank you." Sophia muttered anyway and rang the bell. She kept looking around.

Certainly someone so rich could help her with the money issues, right?

The wooden doors opened behind her and she had to turn around once more. She found a white-haired, peaceful-looking old man staring back at her.

"Hello." She smiled. "My name is Sophia Prince. I am here to see Bruce Wayne. Batman sends me."

He also seemed numb with surprise at the sight of the princess. But he quickly recovered and bowed.

"Come in, young lady. I´ll warn Master Bruce you´re here."

"Thank you." She nodded and followed him.

She was ushered into an ample room. It seemed like a library. There was a fireplace, but it was off. The curtains were open and sunlight bathed the space deliciously. Sophia didn´t know how long would she have to wait, so she started scanning through the titles.

"Shakespeare, Too much ado about nothing. Cervantes, El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha." She put that one down, she couldn´t read spanish. "Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo."

"That is actually a very good one."

She turned around startled and breathed deeply to calm down her heart, a bird trying to escape her chest. The man was tall and he had his hands on his pockets. A boyish grin decorated his features and his gorgeous green eyes glistened like jewels under the dark sea of his ebony hair. He was sexy, confident and very attractive. He was also forty years old.

"What is it about?"

"Envy, revenge, money."

"Sounds like a very dangerous mix."

"Money is always dangerous in the wrong hands. So is power."

"True. But doesn´t power and money always make it the wrong hands?"

"Not always."

She raised an eyebrow.

"You mean you?"

"I never said I am not the wrong hands."

"Still, Batman trusts you."

"_Touché_."

She used the conversation to study him discreetly: his voice, his manners, his features. He was actually very close to her and the amazon couldn´t help to think that any woman fallen under his spell couldn´t really be blamed. She extended her hand.

"Sophia Prince."

"Bruce Wayne." He smiled and shook her hand. If he was handsome, his smile was to die for. But he was old, and… well, she had her reasons to keep her attention away from him. She had a mission.

"What brings you here, Sophia?" He asked, sitting down. "Take a seat, please."

She stared into his eyes to reply, and she saw it.

"I met Batman. He said you could help me."

_A friend. Sure._

"How can I help you?"

She sighed and took the seat he offered. It wasn´t easy to explain what she had done, what she wanted and, especially, who she was.

"Actually, I have no idea."

"Are you hungry?"

"A little. I brought some cheese and grapes…"

"But I have tea and chocolate cake."

"Sounds lovely."

Bruce called Alfred and they got the tea served in no time. When she saw the food, Sophie realized she was starving. She sipped the hot tea first. It felt so warm and nice.

"So what are you doing in town?" he asked. Sophie stood up and started pacing nervously in front of him.

"The truth?"

"Of course."

"I´m looking for my father." She said simply, grabbing her slice of cake and taking a piece on her spoon. She moaned in delight. "Great Hera, this is so good."

"It is. So… looking for your father, huh?"

She nodded and kept sliding through the book´s titles. The mousetrap, Sophia´s world –she grabbed that one-, The Hunger Games. The cover from the last one was different; it was certainly a recent book.

"Yes, and I don´t have much to begin with."

"You can take the books if you want to. To read them."

Her face lit up. Every second he saw her was making it harder for him.

"Really? Wow, that´s… great! Thank you."

She got the tree of them inside her holdall. She didn´t take The Count of Monte Cristo because it was too big, but she made a vow to read it someday.

"What did your mother tell you about him?"

At the mention of her mother, she stared at him frozen.

"Do you know her?"

"Everybody knows her. The bracelets, the looks. It´s pretty obvious who you are."

"I mean, did you work with her?"

"What?"

"Drop it." She rolled her eyes and took another bite of the cake. "I know you´re the Batman."

He nearly fell of his chair.

"How the…?"

Sophia put her plate down and walked closer. She was standing right in front of him. She placed her hands in the armrests to level her face with his.

"The scar in your jaw, it´s very small, but I noticed it. The size of your hands. The smell of your hair, it´s still the same. And there´s also… your eyes."

"My eyes?"

"Yes, your eyes. There´s some sort of unique sadness behind them. It´s odd, because green is the color of hope, and yet, I can see your… sorrow through it. But it´s more than that. It´s me. There´s some kind of pain because I am here… And I don´t know why."

He had to look away. She was too close to the truth.

"You didn´t answer my question. What did your mother said about your father?"

"Nothing, at all. She never mentioned him until I found out."

"Then, what´s your plan?"

"_Suck it, wonder woman!,_ seriously?" She laughed, grabbing another book. "What is it about?"

"Haven´t read it really, it was written by an actress." He shrugged. She replaced the book on the shelf. "So, your plan is…?"

"Oh, the plan. Sorry. I´ve got a picture. Want to see it?"

Bruce nodded. He liked the girl, a lot. He liked her wits. He loved the way she was so much like her mother –physically, as gorgeous as she was; intellectually, as smart, naïve and strong willed as her too-, and how she was somehow like him too. He found himself wishing, intensely, for the beautiful young girl to be his daughter.

He watched her take a notebook out of her holdall and open it in the first page. He didn´t recognize it. His heart was like a stampede on his chest. She handed the picture. His heart became a void of silence. The picture showed Diana and Clark the day he was invited to give a speech for the city law enforcement corpse. She went with him and they asked her for a speech too. She did wonderfully. She was a wow every day.

He didn´t speak because he couldn´t, his heart stopped running and it would burst. Every hope he had to think she didn´t betray him was gone. She did. And her very offspring was there to boast it on his face. She closed the notebook and stared at him, concerned. She already liked him and that suffering wasn´t nice at all to see. She needed to know. _That´s why I´m here, isn´t it?_

"Now, you didn´t answer my question."

"What… question?"

"Did you know my mother?"

"I did."

"Did you work with her?"

"That´s a yes too."

Her eyes opened widely in realization.

"Do you… know my father?"

"Positive."

"Tell me everything you know."

_Please, don´t make me do it._

"You don´t want to hear it."

"I do. And I want the truth. That is non-negotiable."

"I´m not negotiating."

"And don´t dare lying. You knew her, you know my weapons."

_Oh, no. She will. She will make me do it._

"You mean her magical lasso?"

"Golden, shiny and unbreakable." She nodded.

"Are you threatening me with Diana´s lasso of truth?"

She shrugged and blinked innocently. "I´m settling some boundaries."

"It´s a long story."

She sat down again.

"I´m princess of a race of immortal warriors. I have the time. Try me."

**A/N: Comments? Shall I keep going?**


	5. I m still in love with Judas, baby

**THE QUEEN´S DAUGHTER**

**CHAPTER V: I´M STILL IN LOVE WITH JUDAS, BABY.**

Sophie realized he was still reluctant to talk. The man loved her mother and he lost her, it was likely a hard story to tell. She doubted for a moment, but she grabbed his hand. She wouldn´t have another chance like this one to get closer to the truth.

"Please, it´s very important for me. I traveled a long way, I ran away from my home. Anything will help. I want to know."

He placed a strand of her hair behind her ear. For some reason, he felt deeply bounded with the girl. It was senseless, but it was so. Was it just because he still adored the mother? Her charming smile and her tender innocence melted his resistance and subjugated his sorrow. Even though the resemblance was beyond heartbreaking.

"Did anyone ever tell you how much you look like her?"

"A lot. All the time."

"Okay, I'll do it, because once... she changed my life in a way I thought no one ever would."

"Thank you. From the bottom of my heart."

"You won´t be thanking me when I´m done."

She shook her head in disapproval. "I asked for it, I´ll take whatever comes."

_It's hard for me to explain what happened the day I met her. She was new at everything... A complete rookie. There was an alien invasion and the seven of us, therefore the Justice League, gathered together once the threat was gone. I knew your father way before that. I never admitted it, but we worked well together. He was the one who introduced her to me. Diana turned my world upside down since then. She smiled and right then I was certain of two things: That I finally met a woman who impressed me enough to shatter the idea that I didn't need a woman in my life and that I would never get her. You mother was ethereal; she was gleeful daylight, innocence and breathtaking beauty. She was sunshine… and I was the dark knight._

"A perfect match." The princess smiled, enchanted by the story. Bruce only shook his head slowly.

_Your father was the right man for her and she knew it. They spent a lot of time together and it wasn't long before rumor has it there was something going on between them. For some reason I told myself it wasn't truth, he had a girlfriend and she never admitted it... and we actually spent a lot of time together too, sometimes working and sometimes in the social events where our duties summoned us to perform. I tried very hard to get someone else, if only for the sake of getting her out of my mind. But it didn´t work. I started to think she was a sorcerer, that your gods gave her some sort of magical powers. All the other women eventually left. And I was back to her._

"Isn´t it all terribly stupid? I used to think I was smart. Clearly, I wasn´t as clever as she was."

"No, it´s not. I think it´s very cute."

"I let her set me up."

"Keep going."

_Reality slapped me across the face one night._

_They were both on call duty on the Watchtower and I decided to go get the utility belt I had left there earlier. I have to admit I was jealous. Sick with jealousy. I wanted to show up and find out they were all wrong... But I discovered something completely different. The ugly truth._

_Lights were on, but everything was silent. It had been a quiet day and it promised to be an even calmer night. I grabbed the belt and walked out of the control room, no signs of them. I heard her voice then... And she was moaning. The pain stuck on my chest for a while before I was able to move, hearing it once and again. I followed the sound. The door of his room was half open, they were alone after all and unaware of my arrival. I saw them naked and tangled together and I saw her climax in his arms. I ran away, probably making more noise that I should have. I didn´t know the security measures we didn´t often use would be on and I unwillingly shut them on. Then, I convinced myself again that I didn't need her. I don't have a woman or a family now and it allows me to focus on what I have to do, protect my city._

"Great Hera, it must have been heartbreaking. So you quit the League and you never saw her again? You remained here."

"Not exactly."

_I tried to avoid her therefore, but we keep bumping into each other not only in the Watchtower, but in other social events too. I was forced to still face her, and too often for my liking. Things changed a month later, in a very unexpected way. We were protecting a princess, Audrey, and Diana had been all night out partying with her. I found about some weapons being stolen and I needed to warn her, so I had to swallow my pride in a spoonful and my pain like a pill. It was duty. I waited at her apartment until she arrived. That morning I heard your father was back with her old girlfriend and, for the first time, I didn´t feel… so blue about seeing her again. I let my guard down and my hopes up. I made my first mistake. That´s what being human is about, right? So, after my patrol was finished that night, I went to her. She didn´t take long. I watched her walk in and remove her shoes in a very appreciative silence. Diana was wrapped in a ravishing red dress._

"_Hello, Diana."_

_Her shoulders tensed up almost imperceptibly. I noticed how her body became alert before and after she recognized my voice. For a long, excruciating moment, she stood still and quiet, as if she was considering what to do. I dreaded she was going to kick me out. And I definitely didn´t foresee what she decided to do. I remember her gaze fixed on the newspaper over her night table, but I never understood what was in there that helped her make out her mind. The thing is, she did it. As soon as I stood and took a step towards her, she unzipped her dress and turned around. My gaze followed the red silk pooling at her feet and crept back up through her flawless body, until my eyes met hers. And I didn´t saw fear or shyness. I saw confidence beneath her shivering skin._

"_Hello, Bruce." She smiled, but she wasn´t playing the seductress, it was a nice, friendly smile. It was meant to make me confident. I didn´t know before that she was aware of my identity, and I couldn´t put a claim on it. I watched her take a step closer. "Do you need me?"_

_No need to say, my blood pressure was out of control. I could only think that if your father was trying to get back with Lois and she was trying to seduce me, their relationship was definitely over. She was mine if I decided to take her._

"_Yes, I do."_

_As her smile widened, she took a step further. Her body was nearly pressed against mine, and, God, she really knew how to move her curves. All she did was removing my mask, but the slight brush of her fingers against my face was sizzling.._

"_You don´t need to wear it in here. It makes this too… impersonal."_

_Her voice remained smooth and nonchalant. She was sexy, but she wasn´t aware of it. She used her body to get my attention, but she obviously wanted more from me that just to take it. And I had been too blind to see it before. That´s what I thought, anyway._

"_Meaning?" I asked, running my finger along the hem of her black, lacy underwear._

"_Meaning I want to get close and personal with you. What did you need me for?"_

"_Do you want me to explain it, beautiful?"_

_Her lips pressed against mine in a solitary kiss, too short and too light for my liking. The touch burned against my skin, my lips ached for more of hers._

"_I will prefer it if you… show me."_

_My lips crashed against hers and my arms wrapped possessively around her slim waist. She smiled and moaned, satisfied and responsive. We plunged onto the soft cotton covers over her mattress. I didn´t question her about the previous loss of her virginity –something I would obviously find out during what we did-, she didn´t question about my love past either. It was a tacit agreement we respected through all the time we were together. It was a chilly night, the window was open and the wind made the curtains quiver. She snuggled against me and we pulled the duvet over our bodies. Her bed was small and there wasn´t any other way to fit in together. Not even my wildest dreams had been as good as that night._

"_You have no rush to leave, right?"_

_She was asking me to acknowledge it wasn´t a one night stand, and I did it._

"_I´m staying right here."_

"_Good night, Bruce." She yawned._

"_Sleep tight, Diana."_

"_I love you." She whispered, drifting off to sleep._

_I was so surprised it took me a long time to fall asleep too. But when she woke, she found me looking at her and smiled, rubbing her eyes._

"_Where you watching me sleep?"_

"_No, I wasn´t."_

"_Liar. Are you hungry?"_

_Diana smiled. She was happy, and something in her gleeful joy was outrageously contagious. I was happy too, more than I have ever been before._

"_As a matter of fact, yes."_

_She sat up and put on a shirt she grabbed from a nearly chair._

"_Scrambled eggs or toasts?"_

"_None."_

_She looked down embarrassed. "I´m sorry, that´s all I can cook for you right now. I´m not Alfred."_

_I pulled her down again and kissed her._

"_That is until I have you first. And I am so glad you are not him."_

_For the next two months, we spent together every available night. I was a part-time member at the League, so she had to cover more shifts than I did. Neither of us mentioned our relationship openly to the other members. It was ours. She was smart, funny, naïve, beautiful. She was perfect. Love usually does that to people, you only see that you want to see. What we had was so intense and fulfilling, we understood each other so well -she never claimed lack of attention when she had to wait for me to finish my patrols and I never complained because she was doing most of her shifts with your father -, that I became stupidly confident. I never suspected that what we had wouldn´t be enough for her. I was in love and I rushed. There is no logical explanation for what I did. I guess I was just afraid I could lose her. It was an unforgivable mistake._

"So… two months. What happened then?"

"I got her a ring."

"You asked her to marry you? What did she say?"

_I had the diamond ring saved into my night table´s drawer. She insisted she wanted to get on a real date, somewhere out, and I finally gave in to her wishes. Her happiness seemed so genuine… The other women were trophies for the playboy to show off, but she was different and I wanted things to be different. I wanted her to stay around. I got a thank you kiss and she tip-toed into the bathroom. If I was doing it, it had to be properly. Going out on a dinner with her gave me the perfect chance to put my proposal, and I knew the perfect place. It had to be the next day, she said she was busy for the rest of the night. My phone was on my trousers' pocket, and they were discarded all the way across the room. Too lazy to pick it up, I stretched my arm and grabbed hers from the night table at the other side of the bed. I started to dial the restaurant´s number when a message popped in and it accidentally opened. I didn´t intend to read it, but I was glad I did. It was your father. The glass shattered and I finally saw the truth._

"_Are you coming, pumpkin? Please hurry. I really need you tonight. I´m waiting."_

_So I had been wrong, she was still banging him. That was what she had been busy with. It wasn´t about her shifts at the Watchtower and most of them were with him anyway. She had been laughing at me and I was making a complete fool. I redressed and waited for her to come out. She raced to me with a carefree smile and tried to kiss me. I pushed her away and put an end to our fake relationship. Diana turned around and I hit the wall._

"Great Hera, what did she do?"

"She left. She gulped, bit her lower lip and left. Without a single word. She didn´t cry, she didn´t demand an explanation. That´s how eager about seeing him she really was."

"You didn´t ask her for an explanation either?"

"I tried to, two days later, but I couldn´t find her. They told me she was gone with your father. No one knew where."

Sophie gasped and looked down, ashamed of her mother´s actions. The confusion she felt was worse than a mixer messing up with her brain cells. The princess could take her mother´s lies when she thought she was lying to protect her, but it wasn´t so. Diana had been lying to protect herself and prevent her shameful actions to be known. Outrageous. She always thought her mother was the most perfect, loving woman on earth. A bit bossy, possessive and impulsive, maybe, but tender and caring above all. For her daughter, Diana was only a step below Hera herself. And now, she found out her mother was a man-eater and a cheating slut. It was simply… unbelievable. She needed to find her father to tell her all she heard wasn´t true. She needed Diana to tell her it wasn´t true. She needed to perceive something to ensure her Bruce Wayne was lying. But he wasn´t. The pain in his voice was real. She discreetly wiped a tear and looked up.

"That´s enough. Thank you for the help."

"I told you it wouldn´t be nice."

"You have no idea what this mean to me." She hissed, and for the first time her tone was bitter.

"I´m sorry…"

"I´m sorry too. I shouldn´t have asked if I wasn´t ready for the answer." She stood up. "I think I need to go now."

"I think you do. If you need any help, Sophia, you can count on me. You can come back."

She nodded, taking deep breaths to try masking her quiet sobs.

"I appreciate it." She took the brown back and handed him the diamond necklace. "Do you have any idea where can I sell this?"

Surprise enlightened his features.

"Where did you get it?"

"I stole it from my mother." She blushed. "I´m sorry, I needed the money and I didn´t know what to do."

"I will buy it."

"But you don´t have to, I just…"

"I want it. How much do you want?"

"I have no idea how much it´s worth…"

He walked away from her and sat behind his desk, looking down pensively. He saved the necklace in the first drawer and took his wallet out from his pocket. He handed her double the money than any other buyer would have given her for the necklace.

The amazon saved the cash with a relieved sigh. Bruce Wayne just saved her life. He just revealed a lot of hurtful things, but Sophia couldn´t help to deeply like him. "Thank you, this means so much. I will never forget what you did for me."

The young princess jumped forward and hugged him tightly. Hadn´t she done so, she would have broken down crying. He hugged her back. There had been years since the last time he was so close to the verge of tears. It had been when Diana left. When her breathing became steadier, she broke apart, embarrassed of what she did.

"Do you think… there´s any way you can help me find him?"

"Go to the Daily Planet and ask for Mr. Kent. That´s all I can do for you. But remember, if you need anything, you can come back."

"After what you told me, Bruce, I would be sincerely ashamed of doing so. I am not my mother, but I´m still her daughter."

"That doesn´t mean you have to pay for her mistakes."

"No, but I still have to carry them."

**A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews :D I love them and long reviews just enlighten my day ^^ It took me a great deal of thinking to plan this plot and there is a lot on the way still, so please don´t quit on me :P. Also, I am sorry for the mistakes because this hasn´t been beta read, so feel free to point them out; every comment and critic will be very welcome and mostly appreciated. Already thanks to Cheryl, who offered to help me now on. Please review and all will be revealed soon…**


	6. The princess and the reporter

**THE QUEEN´S DAUGHTER.**

**CHAPTER VI: THE PRINCESS AND THE REPORTER.**

Artemis watched Diana pace nervously across the room and rolled her eyes. The Queen had never been this nervous before, not even in the toughest of times, and seriously, for her fellow Amazon, it didn´t make sense.

"Diana, calm down. It´s not the end of the world!"

"It´s not the end of the world? It´s not the end of the world? SHE IS OUT THERE, AWAY FROM ME, AND YOU WANT ME TO BELIEVE IT IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD?"

Artemis grimaced and took a step back. An enraged powerful amazon Queen wasn´t good at all.

"Okay, be cool. I was just saying. Stop shaking your arms."

Diana growled and fell onto the bed face up, staring at the ceiling. "She will find out everything that happened to me."

"Maybe she will be cool with it."

"Cool with it? Cool with it? You don´t know my daughter! This is going to be like a bombshell!"

"Woman, you´re the one going to burst if you don´t calm the fuck down!"

Diana sat straight up and pointed a finger to her best friend.

"Don´t curse."

"I surrender." She sighed, raising her palms in resignation.

Diana smirked boastingly. "You always do."

Artemis scoffed. "Don´t push me. Is there anything she doesn´t know anyway? She has a father, she meets him, she discovers it won´t change her life and she comes back. End of story. That´s all. I am the one you owe some explanations to right now…"

"No, it´s not. I´m starting to think that when my mother didn´t get me back here all those years ago she made a mistake. I´m not going to sit here and wait. She´s a baby. _My_ baby."

"She´s a grown girl, Diana. Let her breathe. She will be fine."

"It´s dangerous…"

"Here we go again…"

Diana raised her watery eyes.

"I´m going to get her, Artemis. I have to go get her."

"If it makes you feel better, then go, with Phyllipus and Donna we can completely cover for you here." Diana smiled and hugged her very tightly.

"Thank you. I love you, Missy."

Artemis pulled away gently. "Good. I´m not a teddy bear… and don´t ever call me Missy again."

Diana laughed and grabbed a holdall. "True. I always forget you´re not the hugging type."

"Exactly."

"I´ll see you all soon then. Can you call Donna and Phyllipus? I want to leave as soon as possible."

The red haired woman crossed her arms. "Of course, but before I do so just tell me what is it exactly that secret you don´t want Sophia to find out?"

Diana blinked and bit her lower lip. "I don´t really think I should tell you…"

.-.-.-.-.-

_Dumbfounded. Completely dumbfounded_. That´s how Sophia, the Princess of Themyscira felt after what she had heard about her mother, the Queen. It wasn´t praiseworthy behavior. At all. And that even skipping the fact she was royalty. The disappointment got to her very core, so deeply she even forgot to ask about her father´s name.

Before she took off to find the man, Sophie strolled around to get a hold on her feelings and buy some things she needed, to get distracted. She changed her clothes and shoes so she would look more like the other girls her age she had seen around. She now wore a pair of jean shorts, a red shirt and flat shoes. She got something to drink too –it was black and tasted very sweet- and a new bag where she stuffed in everything she had on her holdall before. She threw it away after that. The princess also bought something called _iPod_. She didn´t know what was it for, but the store lady said every youngster _needed_ one. The daylight was slowly growing feebler and the breeze was refreshing, but she was still glad she took a long, soothing bath before she left Bruce´s mansion. It wasn´t until she got into the tub that she burst down in tears, heartbroken. After what she knew, she would never, ever, get back to his house or ask for his help. If it was hard to look him in the eye, it was harder to think about her mother without feeling the pain. When she left her home, she wasn´t expecting what she found. Little did she know, not all the secrets were out in the open yet.

Sophie got onto the bus that they said would take her straight to the Daily Planet. It wasn´t that much of a long ride -even when it was a different city- and she would clearly see the big sphere over the entrance door once she got there.

It was a good thing she didn´t miss it.

The young Amazon fought relentlessly to break the habit of looking around in amazement, but it was hard to kill. So when she walked into the newspaper building, something she had never seen before, she gasped out loud. It was so crowded and noise that nobody "could possibly hear a thing over the din. Men and women were gusting up and down everywhere. For someone so unfamiliar with the way the place worked, it was completely chaotic. Nobody gave her a glance.

"Do you have the coffee? She´s going to come in soon! Get the damn coffee!"

"Why is the print not running? It´s late already!"

"Did you finish the report on the Pulitzer Prize?"

"Where´s Marty? I need him now!"

"We´re out of paper!"

"My laptop broke!"

"Get out!"

"Why is everybody yelling? I need help!"

_Why, oh, why is everything so loud and noisy?_ _I miss Themyscira so much…_ Sophia gulped and looked around, in an attempt to find someone that wasn´t yelling or running in all directions. Finally, she spotted a young woman sat on a desk. She was eagerly writing on her notebook and seemed oblivious to the upraising holocaust.

"Excuse me, do you know where can I find Mr. Kent?"

She looked up with a disgusted frown, a gesture that caused her upturned nose to wrinkle.

"He won´t be around this week. I have to finish this now because the Chief Editor, his wife, will come in soon. You can talk to her if you want. Sit and wait."

_His wife._ Sophie sighed. _Fine, I guess that will do for now, I can´t spare a whole week._

A few minutes later the woman walked in. Bright reddish hair pulled back in a neat bun, white shirt, dapper navy blue skirt suit. She was tall and classy. Her presence was built up out of authority -something the princess had only seen before in her mother-, and she wasn´t pleased with the apocalypse she found. The boss was early, and they all cursed under their breath.

Lois removed her sunglasses and commanded to the same woman Sophia just addressed. "Caroline, I need that report on the factory incident now. Where´s Stellan? I need to send him to cover the accident involving Senator Sexton. Did anybody get my coffee? And why isn´t the print running?"

The woman stood and followed her promptly.

"I´ll let Mrs. Lane know you want a word with her. What´s your name?"

"Thanks. I am Sophia Prince."

Sophia bit her lower lip, trying to suppress the bad omen that was breaking havoc on her nerves. Suddenly talking to the dragon lady didn´t seem like a good idea at all. A dragon. That was what her shimmering hair color made her think of.

The young reporter didn´t linger before she came back to tell Sophie that Lois Lane was waiting for her. The Amazon decided to go for it… What would she be risking? Any information was too valuable to be dismissed. The youngster knocked at the door, opened it and walked in. The woman was frantically scribbling something on a piece of paper and she held the phone to her ear, waiting for someone to pick up. She was mastering the art of multitasking…

"Come in, Sophia. Caroline told me you´re looking for my husband. He´s not in right now. What do you need and how can I help you? If necessary, I´ll send you to him."

"Well, I..."

"Sit down." Lois said, and her voice was welcoming, but firm. The voice of a woman used to give orders and be obeyed. Just like Diana once again. Sophia did so as she saw her start writing in a different leaf of paper. _Oh, this will be hard._

"Well, the thing is I'm... I don't really know how to start."

Lois sighed impatiently and removed her reading glasses. She looked up, ready to have a go off on the young girl for wasting her priceless time, but her words dissolved to dust on her throat when her jaw dropped in atonement. Her gaze fixed on the bracelets and then on the steel blue eyes under the wild ebony hair. The likeness was uncanny.

"Oh, Hera, you knew my mother too."

"You are Diana's daughter, aren´t you?"

"Yes, I am. And if I hear I look like her once more, I´ll scream."

Sophia had already decided that talking to the man´s wife wasn´t probably a good idea. She was making a mental excuse to claim to be a student who wanted some advice from Mr. Kent and an opinion about her work. Once she discovered Lois Lane knew Diana, she changed her mind.

"You do." She replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I know, I know." The princess replied slowly, with a sigh of resignation.

"Is she okay? Did she send you?"

"Not really. She doesn´t know I´m here." Sophia admitted reluctantly, fiddling with her hair.

"Gosh, she must be worried. How can we help you? Please, tell me."

It was good to know the woman seemed to have a fond memory of her mother.

"I'm looking for my father, and I was hoping you could give me a hand... on who he is."

Well, it made sense. It was logical the young girl would turn to the man she knew to be her mother's best friend for help. _Because they have always been just friends, right?_ Lois remembered Clark mentioned Diana was madly in love with Bruce Wayne, the Gotham billionaire. It was very important data for the Man of Steel´s girlfriend, or else she would have gone mad with jealousy if she hadn´t known the beautiful amazon had such a crush on someone else and that her relationship with _her_ man was purely platonic. She actually liked Diana after she learned that, even though it wouldn´t last for long.

She didn't get the chance to ask if Wayne was the man Sophia was looking for.

"Okay, so I take it you´re after..."

"I'm after him." Sophia completed, extending to the reporter the picture she had.

Lois stared at it for a whole minute without a single twitch of her features. The amazon waited as patiently as she could, but she was growing uneasy. The reporter didn't know who was she angrier with, her husband for lying or the amazon for messing with her husband. She crumpled the picture in her hand.

"Is this some kind of sick joke, young lady?"

"N-no. Why would I be joking about finding my father?" Sophie babbled confused.

Lois gritted her teeth. A fifteen year old amazon had just ruined her marriage and she was completely unaware of it.

"Because this is my husband you´re talking about! Your mother was beautiful, smart, funny, nice. I admit I was jealous. But I trusted my husband, I believed he loved me. And I trusted her, I thought she had morals. And now… you´re telling he was nothing but a cheating jerk and she was an easy whore. They both made a fool of me and I was too blind to see it."

Sophia gulped. She had messed it up, again. Badly.

"I didn´t say that! And don´t dare call my mother a whore!"

_Why am I defending her? Yeah, because it hurts too much to admit she is completely right. My father is a lying bastard and my mother has no shame. Isn´t it just perfect?_

"How shall I call her then? I can´t believe she had the guts to tell you. That bitch!"

"She didn´t! She didn´t tell me a thing!"

"Get out of here. You can´t be…"

"Don´t you dare judge me, or her for that matters. I am still an Amazon Princess, she is still the Queen, and we deserve respect."

Lois stood and hit the table with her fist, shaking with rage and making the young girl jolt.

"Then, go back to your fucking island and leave me and my family alone!"

An insulted Sophia opened her eyes wide as the ocean, but she didn´t retort since a third person joined their meeting, soaring gingerly through the window and showing an ironical happy smile. The princess looked at him up and down. She grabbed the chair´s back firmly with both hands, because otherwise she would have crashed down unconscious, fainted.

"Sorry to intrude, darling, I came here in a hurry to tell you…"

"Oh, you big fat liar!" she hissed with a voice full of contempt, looking away.

"What?" He asked with a quizzical look, still unaware of the third person´s presence.

"You can ask your daughter!". The woman extended her palm to point at the young girl.

Clark followed the direction she signaled and had to rub his eyes to make sure they weren´t playing games on him. He gasped. "This can´t be real."

"The one you had with that slut of an Amazon you said was just your friend!"

"You´re… Superman." Sophia mumbled in shock, suddenly realizing it. _He´s Alex´s father. Alex is my brother._

"You´re such a smart ass." Lois said with bitter sarcasm.

"Okay, in the first place I won´t tolerate you calling Diana a slut. She didn´t do anything wrong. You are mistaken."

Lois´s jaw dropped a mile and she grabbed her bag to walk out: angry, offended, hurt and completely determined to get a divorce. "I am the victim here, but you are defending _her_? I can´t believe you! You are the worst bastard I have ever met…"

"Wait a minute, woman! Can you even listen to what I have to say? I think I have the right to defend myself. You are assuming a lot of things…"

Her fingers slid instead of grabbing the door knob and she turned around with a dangerous glint in her eyes. Her lips twitched into a defiant lop-sided smile.

"Actually, I would love to hear how the heck can you explain this and expect me to believe it."

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone :D Please keep them coming, every critic, question and opinion is much welcomed and needed :) Please let me know what you want to happen, or write, just anything :)**

**Well… wonder daughter keeps messing things up, doesn´t she? :O But I completely understand her disgust when people says once and again she looks like her mother :P Happens to me ALL the time!**

**And by the way, I made Lois red haired in honor of Amy Adams, who will be playing her in the upcoming movie :D She´s definitely one of my faves ^^ I hope that´s okay with you all! :)**

**Click the twinkling green button and I promise to update very soon :)**


	7. Sexual Innuendo

**THE QUEEN´S DAUGHTER.**

**CHAPTER VII: SEXUAL INNUENDO.**

**Thanks for the comments and the favorites! It keeps me going so please keep it coming! :)**

**I thought I would put up all the characters' explanation as flashbacks, because it makes the story clearer :D**

**Enjoy!**

.-.-.-.-.-

_Diana twirled her hair with her finger nervously, stealing quick glances at Clark. She bit her lower lip and shot her question. Quite shyly._

_"Kal, do you know if Bruce ever dated a... regular woman?"_

_"Regular?" He asked intrigued, looking at her out of the corner of his eye._

_"Yeah, you know. One who´s not rich, glamorous, smart, gorgeous... or slutty."_

_"Slutty?" Superman raised an eyebrow._

_Diana shrugged. "Selina was slutty."_

_"You know, Di, you are beautiful, clever, funny and lovely. He will be an idiot to refuse you." Diana blushed lightly at his words. "And besides, I can call you a lot of things, but by no means are you _regular_…"_

_"I didn't say I..."_

_"Diana, I wouldn´t be your best friend if I haven't realized the way you melt over him."_

_"I don't have a chance with him. Maybe if I wasn't so... inexperienced... If he wasn´t always so cold and distant with me…" She sighed in frustration._

_"Cold and distant? Come on, it´s Batman we are talking about. You made him smile once. That says a lot." He smiled when she giggled. "You are no coward. Just give it a try the next time you have the chance. Trust me. He won't say no."_

_"What if he does?"_

_He grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes. He didn´t like to see his friend suffering over a man just because he was too stupid to admit how much he loved her back._

_"I thought you knew you could trust me."_

_His statement made her smile too. "I do."_

_"Then promise me you'll do it. Next time he says hi, you shut him with a kiss. He´s a lucky bastard to have someone like you in love with him."_

_"Woah! Slow down, boy. I will give it a thought. That´s all. You know? I met someone that day... When we got back to the World War Two..."_

_"And you think I wouldn´t notice the change of subject? Tell me about that, then." He looked at her with interest, which make Diana blush further._

_"I don't really know why. His name was Steve Trevor. And well... he kissed me. And I liked it. Then, I kissed him too."_

_"You kissed him?"_

_"Yes, I did. Even though it´s true I barely knew him. It made me think, a lot... about how I really want to experience those things I have been missing before. Relationships, love, a man´s company... and sex too."_

_"You are a woman, Diana. You're human. You don't have to be ashamed of what you feel."_

"_I´m actually not ashamed. But my mother would be if she knew I´m in love. She would say I´m weak and reckless. And, in the other hand, she is implacable."_

"_That´s plain silly. Everyone falls in love, Di. We are all bounded to, it´s human experience."_

_She smiled again. Talking to him was always s comforting. "I do believe in things that are bounded to happen."_

"_Then you agree with me. You have the right to love and be loved. To be happy. And your mother is wrong."_

"_I wouldn´t say it so harshly. Love didn´t turn out very well for her… And I´m afraid history has the habit of repeating itself." The Amazon said softly, shaking her head._

"_But she got you, and that is a wonderful thing. Children always are."_

_Diana raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, out of clay."_

"_Oh… I forgot." He grimaced, embarrassed and she giggled._

"_You know, I´m actually eager to have children of my own. If I ever had a daughter, I´ll call her Sophia."_

"_Sophia? Why?"_

_She shrugged. "It means wisdom. I think it would be great for her to be wise."_

"_You will be a great mother."_

"_That´s if I can ever have children…"_

"_Why wouldn´t you?"_

_She shrugged. "Because I´m not… ordinary."_

"_You are not."_

"_Do you want children?"_

"_I know life won´t be easy for them, as it won´t be for any child of yours either, but I really want to have them. Some day."_

"_Well, I do think you will be a great father too." She patted his shoulder playfully._

"_Thanks. It just takes finding the right person first."_

"_How will I ever know who´s the right man?" He slid his hand across her shoulder and pulled her closer._

"_When he is, you will know. But in the meantime, I´ll always be here."_

_"Thank you. I don't know what would I do without you..." She smiled and kissed his cheek_

_"I don't know what would I do without you either, pumpkin." Clark grinned and the Amazon burst out laughing._

"_Please, pretty please forget about it! It was Halloween!"_

"_I´m really sorry, but I will never forget that night!"_

_She hit his arm with all her strength, not dreading she could harm him so easily. "You are really mean."_

"_Hey, it´s not my fault!" He laughed at her reaction and she just rolled her eyes._

_"So how are things going with Lois? Have you talked to her? Are you back together?"_

_His sigh was full of sorrow and his arms fell to his sides._

_"No, not in the three weeks we´ve been apart."_

_"Oh, I´m sorry to hear that." Diana sounded deeply concerned. Lois and Clark had always been the perfect match for her and their break up was quite heartbreaking._

"_I miss her so much."_

"_Yes, I guess. Can you explain to me once again what happened?"_

_"It's difficult to put into words, Di... We've been together for six years until this happened. I guess it´s routine taking upon us. We just don't know if we still love each other or we are just used to be together. She said she needed time. Sometimes, I wish she was still looking at me the way you look at him. I think I am willing to be with someone else to see... what she really means to me."_

_"Okay, I´m not an expert, but isn´t that what they call a rebound?"_

_"Rebounds are not always bad. She had been with other men since then too, but I haven´t seen other women. I can´t."_

"_I don´t understand how is that supposed to help." Diana affirmed, tilting her head to the side._

"_It can help you set your feelings straight. Relationships are about chemistry. That´s how you know someone is the right one. You feel it."_

_Diana looked at him silent. She seemed to be deeply considering something and measuring the consequences. The Amazon glanced up at him and blinked nervously._

_"So, you want a rebound. What if that other one... was me?"_

_"You?" He asked in shock._

_"Yes, sleep with me. And then you will know."_

_"Me. And you. Are you sure?" Clark asked, dumbfounded._

_The princess looked down embarrassed._

_"I'm sorry. It was a bad idea."_

_"No, it's not that. I don't want to take advantage of your inexperience. And I don´t want to ruin our friendship, I don´t want things to change between us because of this. I don´t want you to stop trusting me or to feel embarrassed of looking me in the eye because I´ve seen you naked."_

_"Neither do I. We´re even. I promise things won´t change."_

"_You can´t know that beforehand."_

"_I can´t see how will this affect the way I trust you."_

_"But even so, why do you think I am the person you want to do this with for the first time? Because it´s usually a big deal for women."_

"_Okay. I´m pushing you and I don´t like it. Drop it, please." She asked, shaking her hand._

"_You are not pushing me, woman. I just want to know."_

_"It´s quite simple, actually. If I´m not an ordinary woman, don´t expect me to act like one. You're my friend, and I love you as such. Not _romantically_, but I love you. I trust you and I know you would never do anything to hurt me. And besides... I will know it's over when were done. No heartache. No hopeless expectations. No tears over a man who left me or used me. And excuse me if I sound wrong, but that is the way I want it to be."_

_"You are right. No heartache."_

"_If I´m with you, it can´t go wrong. That´s how much I trust you."_

"_I´ve known you for nearly two years… and this is the first time I think you sound tempting."_

"_So I´m not undesirable?"_

"_Have you ever noticed how many heads turn around when you walk by?"_

_She looked down. "Not his."_

"_This means a lot to you, doesn´t it?" She nodded. "Okay, I´m in."_

_"We can go slowly. Kiss me. If you want to stop or I do, then we stop. If there is any emergency the alarm will let us know. I can´t see any potential danger right now." She continued, staring at the screens in front of them._

_The Man of Steel stared at them too ad nodded in agreement, just before he stood and grabbed her hand. "Follow me."_

"_You know, you are amazing."_

_Diana complied obediently and soared after him in silence. When they entered his bedroom, she realized it was actually the first time she had been there at all. She thought her nerves were supposed to be a mess, but his presence was very soothing. She felt the peace of having not expectations about the future, ready to take in whatever the experience could bring her._

_With no further words, he removed a misplaced strand of hair away from her face and kissed her softly. Clark knew he had to take the lead, Diana was the rookie. He unzipped her uniform and removed it. Her gleaming ivory skin was warm and soft, her body shivered under his gentle hands and he didn´t haste to sneak his arm around her waist and pull her tightly against him. He loved Lois deeply, but Diana was a ravishing woman and the man he was between his legs reacted immediately to her quivering touch trying to remove his clothes and her fired up lips against his own. Her heartbeat started rising and her breathing became uneven. Her body was reacting the same way his did._

_None of them asked the other to stop and words didn´t rush to come up afterwards either._

_"Are you okay?" He asked in a low voice, stroking her hair gently, just because he was used to do so with Lois. His damp, masculine body was still pressed against hers and Diana turned towards him to answer the question. Her brain was demanding oxygen desperately and she took a deep breath to provide the supply. She had never experienced losing herself in her senses before, and it was a delightful sensation. She had never lost control and for once, she had to admit it. She. Completely. Loved. It._

_"Yes, I am. Perfect."_

_"Did I hurt you?"_

_"Not at all. I felt the pain, but I did enjoy it."_

_"You don't regret it?" He asked gently, sitting up and staring down at her. A pang of modesty made her pull the covers up over her body. She shook her head._

_"Yet, I have something to confess."_

_"Di, we've been as intimate as two persons can possibly be. I think you can tell me anything."_

"_But I´m ashamed."_

_He placed his finger under her chin to meet her gaze. "Tell me. What is it?"_

_She blinked twice to clean the tears from her watery eyes and straighten her cloudy sight. "I was imagining him all the way long. His hands upon me, his lips over mine. I´m horrible."_

"_No, you are not… it´s just that your heart is somewhere else. And that´s fine this time. Remember what we said about no heartache?"_

_Diana looked down, clutching the sheets in her hands._

"_He´s causing me more heartache that he´s worth already, isn´t he?"_

"_No one who can cause you heartache is worth it."_

"_But I couldn´t have asked this of him… I would have wanted him to say yes too badly, and that is not a good thing."_

_"Who says it´s not? You better stick to your promise, Princess. I will be watching you."_

_Sadness flooded her eyes and she hugged him. Bruce and Clark weren´t exactly friends, they were colleagues and they were forced to respect each other. Superman didn´t like the idea of Diana hooking up with the bat, but he couldn´t try and change her mind, he appreciated her too much for that. But it didn´t change the fact he wanted to punch Bruce senseless every time he saw the sorrow in her eyes._

_"What's wrong?"_

_"Nothing, it's just... He usually calls me that."_

"_And you like it when he does." He smiled soothingly._

"_I love it."_

_The high pitch cry of the alarm interrupted them and they broke their embrace, ready to jump into action in a few seconds. But once the alarm was off, everything went dead quiet._

.-.-.-.-.-

"I can't believe this." Lois let out a heavy sigh. "All these years and you never told me."

"Lois, what was I supposed to tell you? We agreed to it. You slept with other men too."

"But I didn´t have a child with them! And most important, they weren´t such a close friend I was still seeing afterwards!" She fought to keep her voice calm and hide the hint of hurt in it.

"So are we back to that, again? I haven´t seen the woman in over fifteen years and you are still jealous. You are the one I love."

"But you love her too, don´t you? Can you say you don´t?"

"I can´t say I don´t love her, she is my friend. But I´m not, and I never was, in love with her. Neither was she in love with me."

"She seduced you to sleep with her and you were too dumb to realize it. Men can be real idiots."

He stared at her, surprised by the accusation.

"No, she didn´t seduce me. We took a rational decision without any romance involved. I never felt the urge to touch her again or kiss her, she didn´t try to either. I chose you, and not because she was out of my reach, but because I wanted you."

Lois looked down and blinked to hold her tears and prevent them from escaping her eyes.

"I just wish you haven´t done it…" Her faltered voice was barely a whisper.

"It gave me the courage to fix things up between us."

"You are so important to me…" She mumbled, wrapping her arms around herself out of the need of comfort.

"I´m sorry, sweetheart. You are everything to me. You just have to understand I´m not always Super. Sometimes, I´m just a man…" He placed his hand under her chin and softly brushed his lips against hers. "I love you so much."

"Damn it, I love you too." She kissed him back.

_This is wrong. This is so wrong in so many levels. What have I done? He loves her, and there´s no space for me here. I have no right to ruin this. My mother was just a fling. I was so stupid. _Sophia stared at them abashed, silent tears soaking her cheeks, until she sobbed and they both looked up at her, breaking apart. She wanted nothing more than to run away unnoticed, she had had enough. She didn´t know what to think anymore, she hated the awkwardness of the situation. She had heard so many different versions of the story and they didn´t match at all. It was odd. Why didn´t she feel as comfortable with her father as she did with Bruce? Why? Why was him, instead of her mother, the one she wanted to run to, even when she barely knew him? _But I can´t…_

_It doesn´t make sense. Why is she so heartbroken then if he never betrayed her?_

"So that was all? A one night stand and I came along…? She didn´t meant a thing to you…"

Clark took a step towards her. He wasn´t sure if he should hug her or not, dreading she would be intimidated by the contact. After all she was his dearest friend´s daughter… and his own offspring. He didn´t know how to act with his daughter, that young beautiful woman who was a complete stranger to him.

"I never said that, Princess. I´m sorry, you still have to tell me your name. I presume it´s Sophia though."

Her eyes opened wide. "Yes, it is. How…?"

"It means wisdom, and your mother loved it. She never thought she could have a daughter, at least before she got pregnant. She never told me about the pregnancy. But I know that´s the name she would have chosen."

"Yes." She nodded, subtly wiping her tears. "My name is Sophia."

"Can I hug you, Soph?" He did so when she nodded. What else could she do? How to refuse it? "I didn´t mean what you said. Your mother is still a most beloved friend to me."

Sophia didn´t believe saying her mother was still in love with him to be a good idea after what she saw. _She did have a reason to go back to Themyscira and keep me there._

"That´s good. I guess you didn´t plan to have me in the middle."

"True, she doubted she could get pregnant. Still, I can´t believe she never told me."

"Well, that is the only attitude of hers I do find reasonable and respectable. Why would she do so? She knew you were going to wed someone else. She didn´t want to ruin your marriage. It was the right thing to do… from where she was standing." Lois interrupted.

"I guess so. Yes. Your wife is right. Don´t blame her, I´m sure she´s not exactly proud of this." Sophie sighed and broke apart from Clark. She actually found his touch uncomfortable. "She was right all along. She is always right and I am always _so_ stubborn…"

"What do you mean?"

"She had a reason for not telling me all this, and I didn´t trust her. I´m sorry I came here. I´m sorry I disturbed you. I am so sorry. I just want to go back… I hope my name won´t bring any more fights between you two. Thank you for what you told me and for your time."

"Hey, Sophia, this…"

Unwilling to listen another word, the princess reached for the doorknob, but she lost balance and crashed against it when the room shook and a cabinet came stumbling down.

"What was that?"

"The earth moved." Sophia replied to Lois.

"An earthquake… I think."

Clark looked through the window. "No, honey. I don´t think so."

.-.-.-.-.-

**A/N: Thanks for reading and please click and green button to know what comes next :D ^^ So WHAT was that? Uh-oh! I´m mean, I know! Lol.**

**GabrielITDO: Thanks for the comment. I guess you meant that either you´re not a BMWW fan of that you are a WWSM fan. Either way I´m very glad you´re reading. And don´t worry, everything will be revealed soon ;)**

**Cew: Thanks for the review! Yes, we will. Everything will slowly fall onto place ^^**

**Coco: Thanks so much for reviewing :D **

**Please keep reading you all and let me know what you think. I do need your comments and questions :D**


	8. The Bounty Hunter

**THE QUEEN´S DAUGHTER.**

**CHAPTER VIII: THE BOUNTY HUNTER.**

**FIRST. Bruce and Diana were born to be together and Clark belongs to Lois. Period.**

**NOW that is settled, THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL THE REVIEWS AND THE FAVORITING! :D You will really keep me writing if you keep up the comments ^^ All of them made me very happy.**

**Okay, I´m introducing a character here that has not been shown before in this story in a complete AU, so I hope that´s okay with you all :P**

**Also, I introduced a more… modern use of the kryptonite. I did a lot of research, but if I got anything wrong, please let me know.**

**So, as Sheldon would say, I informed you thusly! Enjoy! :)**

**.-.-.-.-.-**

"What do you mean?" Lois asked him.

Clark didn´t answer. Pieces of the shattered wall cascaded over the group and a woman any of them had seen before floated into the room. She leaned against the remaining part of the wall and stared at the three of them unimpressed, with boredom in her eyes. Her stare finally fixed on Superman with obvious disdain.

"So this is you." Her voice wasn´t too treble, either was it too deep. The sound flowed melodiously out of her lips as if it was just another weapon under her control.

The silence created by the lack of response forced Sophie to speak. "Who are you?"

The plump lips pursed under the crystalline sapphire eyes. Every gesture seemed impeccable and clean, framed by the sunny blond strands twirling down behind her ears. There was no doubt the woman had been trained endlessly and that her methodical habits were imperturbable. Everything about her was flawless.

"I am Sor-El. But everybody calls me Zora."

And Zora was the only one who heard Clark´s heart skipping a bit. "Where are you coming from?"

The leather covered legs moved closer to him and the hands rested on her silver belt. She had a gun, a dagger and several compartments. It resembled Batman´s utility belt. Her voice tone made clear she found the questioning utterly bothersome.

"The same place I´m taking you to. Apokolips. Even though I´m not here as a Fury, but as a bounty hunter. I must say it´s a very amusing and profitable hobby."

Lois was the first to react and her arms snarled around Clark´s.

"You are not taking my husband!"

"Oh, I want to see you try and stop me, little skunk. I´m taking the baby amazon too. I wasn´t so sure about her, human DNA it´s worthless, but since she has got kryptonian blood too… Granny Goodness will be delighted to have someone to cover Big Barda´s place… and give the bitch a pay up."

The movement was so swift she didn´t see it coming. A small yet powerful foot in a shimmering black shoe collided against her chest, tossing her trough the wall.

"I am NOT a baby."

The steely blue eyes fumed. "Too much bravado for a petty bug I can squeeze so easily. If you make this hard, you will both end up at the Preserver´s Zoo. He wants a kryptonian so badly." She chortled. "Of course, he can´t dare mess with me."

"You are not taking me anywhere!" The princess's fist speeded towards the bounty hunter, but it crashed against her palm and five deathly stout fingers immediately squeezed her fingers. The only person that strong Sophia had faced before was her own mother, and that was just sparring.

"Your arrogant attitude doesn´t fit your disadvantageous position, _Princess_…" The word was hissed with disrespect. "And it won take you anywhere good. I don´t do things by halves and I won´t walk off empty-handed. How great, these bracelets will look terrific with my belt…"

"Guess what? Amazon´s don´t do things by halves either."

"Let her go!" Clark yelled, grabbing Sophia by the shoulders and pulling her back towards him.

"This is not about you yet, Superman. Don´t mess where they didn´t call you."

"It is about me. You came to get me, let her go. I won´t back down and watch you take her."

"Really? Can we try and find out where your heart is really settled?"

Lois gasped quietly behind them. She thought the previous events ruined her day completely. It was about to get worst. _Much_ worst.

The reporter stood behind her husband quiet and motionless, fully aware that Superman and the Amazon could stand up to the intruder, but she would be completely defenseless. She was brave, but she wasn´t stupid. Sometimes, hiding isn't cowardice and it doesn´t make you fainthearted or pusillanimous. Sometimes, wits are what it takes for survival.

So when the black and silver blurry shadow gusted towards her, grabbed the collar of her fancy jacket and held her up like a magician´s bunny over the huge empty space above the street, she was taken completely by surprise. The woman squealed feebly and her eyes enlarged with fear, but her lips didn´t let out the panicked scream. Even so, her highly increased heart rate didn´t remain unnoticed by the blonde. She gulped and looked upwards, away from the emptiness under her dangling feet. The last thing she wanted was to be used to manipulate her husband.

"Don´t you dare!"

"Don´t… do… something… stupid… Kal." She groaned slowly, with a creaking voice.

"Oh, you don´t want me to let her go? She´s so scared…" She pouted as her grip on the redhead loosened and she fastened down heavily. "Sorry."

"No!" Clark became a fuzzy figure of red and blue rushing behind the reporter.

Sophie stared at the empty space where seconds ago Lois had been hanging, still struck by the stranger´s actions. _I don´t want my father´s wife to die!_

The hand clashing her stomach and sending her against the wall brought her back to reality. As she fell to the floor, the princess wished -not for the first time-, that she had her mother´s ability to fly. The Fury definitely had it. But despite that, she had been trained to fight upon the skills she actually possessed, so the Amazon grabbed her arch and shot an arrow straight to her foe. She didn´t know yet the woman _was_ kryptonian, but she found out about her invulnerability. And she laughed. She guffawed in an amused, mocking way that pierced the Queen´s daughter´s pride.

"Too bad I know a thousand things about you and a hundred ways to overcome you, but you can´t gather a single fact about me."

Zora tried a kick aimed to Sophia´s head, but she rolled onto her stomach and got up to her feet before she was hit.

"You might. Too bad I can pick up new information faster than you can."

"You will pay for this, little spoiled brat."

A pair of twin red beams emerged from the bounty hunter´s eyes, directed to the princess. Sophia immediately deflected them with her bracelets. But they started heating up at a scandalous pace, until she hissed in pain and slid her right leg to the side. The movement caused her to drop downwards rapidly, and as her leg swept across the floor, she tripped down the intruder. The burning pieces of feminum were hastily removed and she rubbed her aching wrists. _Hera, I didn´t know those could get that hot!_

Suddenly, the woman´s iron fingers clenched around her damaged skin, digging her nails onto it with a satisfied delight. The sound was barely audible when she yelped in pain.

"Where´s your bravery gone, Princess? All the self-control in the universe can´t save you now."

"Let her go." Clark demanded, floating back into the room.

The blonde´s eyes moved back to the other kryptonian. Sophie wasted no time to take advance of the distraction. She gulped, swallowing the throbbing pain that was slowly becoming agonizing, and her knee ruefully speeded against her captor´s stomach. Sophia took a deep breath and closed her eyes in relief when her arms were released and the hurt submitted.

Superman´s hand stopped the blow that was directed against the Amazon´s jaw.

"I said enough!"

"I´m not going back without my quarry, I have a bargain. Another idea?" She raised an eyebrow, annoyed.

"You seriously want to piss off her mother?"

"The mythical Amazon Queen. Sounds like mere _fun_ to me."

A vengeful wrath flashed through her eyes. She swiftly pulled him by the arms and strongly hurled him against the asphalt of the street below. The young girl, who had already replaced her bracelets, gusted down the stairs with her bag on tow and hurried out of the building.

She saw Clark surface from the hole the impact had cracked in the road to hit Zora´s ribs powerfully. Her body flew backwards until she crashed against a lamp post, sinking to the floor after breaking it in two. Getting a firm hold of it, she aimed the steel bar against Clark, but Sophie´s sack landed on the floor as she jumped high enough to grab the other end of the pole. The Amazon´s strength broke the bounty hunter´s balance and she crashed her against the floor, exactly were Clark had fallen before.

The princess put the post down and she saw Superman charging again against the Fury. A first blow hit her face, but then her heel crashed against his chest in a deft masterful move that set him off flying against a building. She landed softly on the ground and opened one of the compartments from her belt.

"Do you really think I would come here _unprepared_?" She smirked, grabbing a dark and slender, short blowpipe from the compartment. A soft, quick touch of her lips sent a thin shimmering green needle that buried into the Man of Steel´s neck. He screamed, covering with his hand the spot where he had been hit and squatted onto the floor. "One down, one to go."

Sophia´s face transfixed in horror. "What have you done?"

The princess turned around and ran to him, but the alien´s hands grabbed her hair, throwing her against the ground with furious strength.

The Amazon gasped as the air escaped her lungs and her eyes fogged. She took a second more than she should have to force the air back in and jump up. The kryptonian was already holding a car over her head and prepared to hit the youngster with the heavy steel.

"Try dealing with someone your own size!" The blonde turned around dumfounded to find a red haired thanagarian gritting her teeth at her. She didn´t see the mace that hit her head so badly coming her way. Zora crashed against a wall that stumbled down upon her.

"Are you okay, Sophie?" Hawkgirl asked, still holding the mace in her hands tightly.

The Amazon blinked stupefied. "Shayera!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to find my father! I left Themyscira on my own…"

Then, it was Shayera´s turn to gasp in surprise. "Did you find him? Where´s your mother?"

Sophie shook her head sadly and pointed to Superman, who was unconscious and held by Lois in her arms. "I don´t know about her, but he is right there."

The redhead shrieked in frustration and smashed with her mace the car that had been already wrecked by the other female alien. "Sophia, you can tell your mother that the next time I see her, I´ll strangle her with my own…!"

The word _hands_ drowned in her throat as Zora kicked her back and punched her face, before holding her down with an arm lock. Sophia was young, but a brave warrior, and her mind didn´t stop looking for a solution. Her eyes lit up when she finally thought of something that maybe, and just maybe, could do the trick.

The young girl ran to her bag and recovered the golden lariat. She flung the lasso towards a fire hydrant and yanked it from the ground, causing the cold water to rain heavily over them. She watched Shayera hopelessly struggle against the bounty hunter for a few seconds, until they were completely soaked.

"Sayera, kick her away from you!" Sophia yelled, to be heard over the din the water was making. Freed from the arm lock, but now pressed against the floor and lacking of air as a result of her attacker's fingers clenched around her neck, the thanagarian stretched her arm a little more and got a hold on her precious weapon. She plunged it onto her attacker's side, and the movement allowed her to do exactly what the princess just said. Another blow and the woman was flung away from her.

Wasting no time, the Amazon grasped the woman´s shinning silver boots from the ankles and, after spinning her around twice, she sent her flying against the thick wires stretched to provide energy for the street lighting. When the completely drenched body impacted against the power cords, breaking them, a bolt of electricity got an immediate hold on it. The kryptonian shook and retorted, wrapped up in the deathly golden light, until she fell back to the floor unconscious. Sophia and Shayera immediately ran to Clark and Lois.

"Shayera, please contact the Watchtower. He needs help!" The reporter cried. Her eyes were pleading through the accruing tears and her faltered voice was weak.

The redhead brought her hand to her ear. "J´onn, four coming in. Can you teleport us, please?"

Everything disappeared in a blur, and suddenly, the four of them landed over an iron, chilly floor. Everything around them was built from the same steel and across the ample windows a sea of stars was glowing over the darkest sky. The beautiful sight was overwhelming.

"Where are we?"

"This is the Watchtower, the Justice League´s workplace and operation base." A man´s voice behind her responded.

The two heroines turned to J´onn, who didn´t say a word and stared into Sophie´s eyes.

"Welcome, Princess." He bowed his head in respect. "I would love to hear the news about your mother once this incident is solved; she is a very dear friend of mine."

The kind words made Diana´s daughter smile.

"That wasn't fair J´onn, she doesn't even know you can read her mind."

The smile faded and she grimaced.

"I'm sorry." He nodded in agreement. "But hers was the mind that held the information I needed. He will be fine in no time, but a time we shall not waste."

"Please, help him." Lois interfered and looked back at her husband. "Don´t you dare die on me when I´m mad at you…" Sheathed in her ragged suit and with the despair in her eyes crowned by the disheveled reddish tresses, she gave the strong impression of a woman completely out of her mind. She sobbed quietly and ran her hand through her hair.

"Follow me to the infirmary. I already have all the necessary data."

"Maybe you will need to know that she tossed that thing with a black blowpipe…" The girl informed.

"Thank you." The Martian said.

"Sophia, you go find Alex. Tell him what happened and keep him away until Clark reacts. He will be fine, don´t you worry." She paused a second in sudden realization. "I guess you already met him?"

The princess nodded and mentally thanked the thanagarian.

"Please tell him that and tell him to find me later." The boy´s mother interjected, not misusing the time to ask how did Sophia met her son. She could do that later.

The Amazon speeded away whilst the two other women carried Clark on tow. She was actually eager to meet him again. There was a big deal of catching up to do.

Shayera sighed in relief and looked up to her colleague, before she whispered loud enough for only him to hear. "Good, we really don´t need the youngsters fussing around."

.-.-.-

She was just a few steps away when a bleary red shadow swirled around Sophia and a masked man in a bright red suit with golden details halted in front of her.

"Hello, Di! I..." His expression became bewildered when he watched her closely and the Queen´s daughter sighed in resignation.

"I'm Sophia. Yes, I am Diana's daughter. Yes, she is okay and no, she is not here." The young girl crossed her arms. "Anything else you want to know?"

He cackled, amused. "Like mother, like daughter. How's old Di doing?"

Sophia chortled. "Don't let my mother hear you call her that!"

He smiled. "I won't... I don't want my neck broken. I'm The Flash, by the way."

"I can see why. I'm sorry Flash, it was nice to meet you but I really need to get going. Have you seen Alex?"

"He's in the next room. It will be great to see you later." Wally replied and raced away.

Sophia brushed with her hand the raven locks that had been tousled by the wind before she walked through the door. And what she saw was a LOT of people.

There was a guy in a medieval armor, a cowboy with a red scarf around his face, a dark skinned man dressed in green scolding the guy wearing a funny golden suit, a woman with green glistening hair and so many more. Suddenly, someone tapped her shoulder and she turned around. Ryan was smiling widely at her, evidently happy to see the princess.

"Hello, Ryan."

"Hey, Dark Amazon. How are you?"

"Dark Amazon? What? I'm not dark."

"Oh, because of the Amazing Amazon and the Dark Knight. Your parents." He stated as a matter of fact.

"But he is not my father." She frowned.

The boy seemed to be shocked and embarrassed at once. "Right."

"Have you seen Alex? I need to talk to him." She pleaded, changed the silly subject.

He frowned, clearly unpleased and pointed some direction behind her. Sophia spotted them a few seconds later. "Thank you!"

He was wearing a pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt, with the same logo that identified her father's outfit. The young blonde was dressed in black and had fishnet stockings plunging onto her pretty boots. Sophia was surprised to see Amanda smiling and laughing with a glee she was lacking before. When Ryan called their names, they turned and their faces transfixed. Alex beamed, delighted to see her and Amanda regained her sulky demeanor.

_And the guy says I am the Dark Knight´s daughter! Yeah, sure…_ She rolled her eyes._ Am I imagining thinks or she's upset because of the way he smiles at me?_

Alex sprinted towards her. "Hello, Soph."

She smiled wearily. "Hello, Alex. Can we talk, please?"

"Sure. You seem like you could use a hot drink. What about a cup of hot chocolate?"

"Sounds heavenly." She beamed too.

He slid his hand gently across her waist and guided her to the Cafeteria, unaware of the Queen sibling´s eyes following them. Sophie sat on a table and waited for him to get the beverages. Her eyes lazily scanned across the room until her gaze fell upon two women sat on another table, talking and laughing. There was a tall dark haired magician, with hat and everything, and a very attractive blond. The fishnets, the black uniform and the features seemed familiar. _Too_ familiar.

"You guessed, that's Viper senior." Alex said, sitting down too and handing her the beverage. Sophia took a sip and closed her eyes in appreciation.

"This is good." She put the cup down. "Is there something going on between you and Amanda?"

His expression suddenly transformed and he responded in astonishment. "N…o"

"She likes you. And you don´t seem so sure either."

"Why would you say that?"

She looked down, to the hand she rested beneath the cup. "True, I have no right to ask you something so personal. I'm sorry."

"Hey, you can ask me anything." He said, placing his hand over hers, intending to intertwine their fingers.

When she looked up to meet his eyes, she knew he had felt the sparkles too. Taking a deep breath -for some reason her heart was beating faster- she removed her hand slowly and placed them both over her lap.

"We really need to talk..."

.-.-.-.-.-

**A/N: Okay, that was HARD work! :O I hope you liked it. Please let me know, good or bad. Did you like Zora? All opinions, critics and questions are welcomed and useful. It helps me built up the story :) I will always reply to each review ^^ **

**I was glad to discover, after watching JL Doom, that my concept of kryptonite was right. A small piece doesn´t have enough radiation to affect them unless it´s buried in the skin ^^.**

**Alex attire had been inspired by what I´ve seen of Action Comics New 52.**

**Thanks to M2J MandalorianJedi for the Dark Amazon suggestion :D It rocks!**

**Ozzy: First, thanks for taking the time to write down your opinion, it shows you think the story is worth it. I´ll try to make my reply as short and complete as possible. FIRST, where did I make Diana a Christian? O.O Where, oh, where? As for what they did, it wasn´t a great idea, true, but he reasons are there. She was curious and she felt inexperienced. I think it is possible, for a character like her who wasn´t raised with prejudices about it and can see it for what it really is… something natural. Of course, there must have been an encounter between them for Diana to think Selina is slutty (I didn´t think it was relevant, but the story will allow me to squeeze it in if the readers find it necessary). Besides, she didn´t say she was a slut, but slutty. And that is just… a stereotype, related to the way she dresses and acts, I suppose. It´s not exactly related with Diana´s morals (plus, it was only a bit of fun). It´s not just casual sex with a workmate (it would have been so if it was Flash, but Clark is the one she trusts with her life). I didn´t want to make her in love with Clark first because that would have made her feelings inconstant. Unfortunately, I barely know anything about Jerry Springer, sorry, but if you explain to me better what you meant I will reconsider it. I don´t think they are inconsistent, but maybe because I have the full picture :P And yes, there will be a good reason. He´s not a knight in shining armor but a dark knight and she´s not Cinderella, but a warrior princess, royalty. They are both proud as hell. I hope this clarifies it for you :) NOTE: NO SMWW. Diana belongs to Bruce. Thanks for your opinion; everything will be considered for future chapters.**

**GabrielTDO: Yes! Always and forever! :) YAY!**

**cew: Thanks for the comment! AND trust me, there WILL be. A LOT.**

**CrazyRenegade: Thanks for the comment! Yes, it correlates! Well, time will tell! There will be more drama and angst. Well, his coolness is justified by being Batman, lol. Thanks!**

**NOW, off to watch the Academy Awards and wait for the comments! :D Go on Meryl!**


	9. Keeping a cold head is more important

**THE QUEEN´S DAUGHTER.**

**CHAPTER IX: A PASSIONATE HEART? KEEPING A COLD HEAD IS MORE IMPORTANT.**

"Okay, tell me." Alex replied looking to the side, feeling awkward because of the way she pulled away from his touch. He wasn´t as keen as the Amazon picking up other people´s emotions.

"I don't know where to start." She whispered, uncertain of her own feelings.

"It's always good to start from the beginning." He shrugged, taking a sip of his own drink.

There wasn´t a way to go… around it. There wasn´t a way to make it softer. She just had to go with it.

"I'm sort of... your sister."

He nearly spilled off the hot beverage, shocking on it as he swallowed. "How the hell did that happen? How do you know?" Alex put the cup down, dumbstruck.

"I told you I came here to find my father... It turned out he is your father too. He told me that... that he slept once with my mom during the month he and your mother broke up before they got married. That pretty much sums it all." She finally let out the breath she had been holding.

"It's... unbelievable. How comes he never told us we have a sister?"

"He didn't know about it. And it wouldn´t have been a bright idea anyway, I think. Wait... You said _us_? You're not the only child?"

"No, I have a little sister, Primrose." His expression became suddenly serious.

"You're right. Un-be-lie-va-ble." Sophia hid her face in her hands.

"Don't tell me you have a twin."

"No, thank Hera I don't. I mean... how messed up this is."

"Have you seen him? Where is he? Does my mother know?" His eyes opened in awe and he shook his head. "I think it's better if she _doesn't_ find out."

Sophie's eyes finally moved upwards again and she gulped when the sight of Dinah and Zatanna intently staring at them, in a deep silence that was already putting up their inquiries, hit her. She grabbed his arm, looking away before she got another round of questions from the two heroines.

"Please, get me out of here. I'll tell you the rest then." She mumbled, as if the women could hear her.

"Okay, we can go to my place if that's fine with you." Alex offered.

"Yes, momentarily, yes." She urged, standing up. He followed her promptly.

Sophia looked back discreetly and saw Diana´s friends were still gawking, but now they were whispering too. _Just in time._

He swiftly guided her to the control room, where Mr. Terrific had been put in charge by J'onn, and asked him to teleport them.

And then, Sophie vanished when half of the Watchtower still wanted a talk with her.

.-.-.-.-.-

The house wasn't huge or particularly impressive, but it was nice and well taken care of. Welcoming. The white columns shimmered under the settling sun and the red patterns of the rooftop gave it a lovely poise. It smiled brightly. It was definitely a home. As Sophia scanned her surroundings, Superman´s son grabbed a key from his pocket and unlocked the door. The boy ushered her in politely.

His hand skimmed across her waist again. It caused their eyes to meet. Sophia looked away to hide her slightly flustered face.

They entered a reception hall from ivory walls, and it had a copper framed mirror and a bucket of daisies as a finishing touch, like a flourish, in the neatly arranged space. It lead to an ample living room, where a pair of creamy sofas surrounded a small glass table whose legs sunk into the cottony terracotta carpet. The translucent curtains were a perfect frame for the beautiful sunset. And a smile crept to the princess´s face.

"You have a lovely home."

"Thanks. My mother tries really hard to keep it spotless."

She raised an eyebrow and put her sack down. "Tell _me_ about perfectionists mothers."

Alex was still grinning at his companion when a little girl stormed into the room and hugged his legs tightly. He stroked her hair tenderly. The child was obviously someone very dear. "Hello, Prim. This is Sophie."

Sophie watched the redhead dolly smile at her. She was cute. And she was her sister too.

"Hello, Prim." Sophia beamed.

Suddenly, the monkey was wrapped around her legs. "Hello, Sophie."

She looked to Alex, remembering her last painful encounter with an infant. "She won't pull my hair, right?"

"No, she won't."

The Amazon picked the girl up. "How old are you, Prim?"

"Four." The little one replied, inspecting her visitor. Sophie thought that not pointing out that she happened to be a princess would do the trick. Apparently, it didn't. The girl grabbed her braid and hauled at it strongly. Sophie mentally cursed at the fact she forgot the petite minx was Superman's daughter.

"Don't do that." She grimaced.

Alex took her away and cuddled his sister. "Primrose, you're being rude."

Prim crossed her arms and pouted in response. A tall woman pecked her white-haired head into the room, her clear blue eyes looking for her granddaughter.

"Alex, thank God you're here. I need to go get your grandfather. Something happened to his car. I was waiting for someone to arrive" She said in a gleeful, slightly hoarse voice and entering the room fully.

"Hello grandma. That's okay. Prim will be fine with us. This is Sophie. Soph, this is Grandma Martha... Kent."

She got the message. _The lady is my grandmother too_. The princess smiled once again.

"Nice to meet you, darling."

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Kent."

"There's a cake still baking. Please watch over it in thirty minutes. I'm sorry I can't stay for supper."

"It's okay, grandma. Thank you." Alex waved at her.

"Have fun you two." She replaced her pink hat with a wink and left. Sophie's jaw dropped.

"Prim, can you be an angel and watch _The little mermaid_ whilst we speak?"

She shook her head and pointed to the raven haired girl. "No. Sophie play dollies with me."

"She can't play dollies."

The redhead scowled and got down from his arms hastily. "You have a silly girlfriend." She sentenced and stormed out.

"Sorry."

"She´s lovely. I'm more worried about the fact she and our grandmother think were dating."

"We will get to tell everyone, Soph. You just have to give it time..."

Her expression became anguished and her forehead rested in her hand. "But I don't want to tell everyone. I just want to go back."

"Then why... are you still here?"

Sophia sighed and sat down. "To tell you what happened."

Alex sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. And the thought she could easily get accustomed to his gentle nature crossed the Amazon´s mind. She mentally reprimanded herself on her totally inconvenient and inappropriate infatuation. "What is it?"

"That crazy bounty hunter Zora hit him with something. He fainted. And your mother wants you to look for her later."

"Wait. Who was hit?" He asked, startled.

"Superman. But he will be fine. J´onn and Shayera promised so."

"But how? The only way to do that is... kryptonite."

"Uhm… is that something green... and shiny?"

"Yes!"

"That's it then. A kryptonite needle. But they were pretty sure it wasn't serious."

"We must go see him." He raised his hand to his ear.

"No, we shouldn't. He needs to rest." She replied, grabbing his wrist to stop him. And the sizzle was there again. She jumped back, momentarily speechless.

A sweet scented whiff filled the room and the Amazon sighed in relief.

"What we have to do is check on that cake."

He guided her to the kitchen and stood in front of the oven, bringing his hand to the back of his head. Clueless.

The smell was delicious and she closed her eyes in appreciation. The princess looked around and grabbed the clean knife resting on the counter top.

"You would be surprised, but there are things about this world that my mother actually taught me."

Sophia opened the oven and slid out half of the tray with a mitten. She plunged the piece of cutlery in the fluffy substance to the bottom. When the blade was removed and examined, the cake ended up over the kitchen table.

"It's ready. You can turn it off." She inhaled the cinnamon scent with evident pleasure.

"I guess you're staying with us, right?" The boy asked as he followed her command.

The young girl removed the mitten and turned to face him.

"No. No way."

He seemed utterly surprised. "Why not? You are..."

"An Amazon. A Princess. Your sister. But I'm not your mother's daughter. I don't think she will like the idea." He didn't reply, so she kept talking. "Besides, I don't want to. I prefer going to a Hotel."

He leaned against the counter. "Tell me the truth. Why do you want to go back already? What did you find out that was so unexpected?"

She sighed and propped next to him, saddened. "I... I just didn't think my father would be married and have a family. I imagined he would be as lonely as my mother is without him. I had the silly idea I could make it all perfect, for her, for us three. Among other things..."

"You wanted him to be single? You expected him to still be in love with her? And that despite the fact I don´t know if she is still in love with him. Are you saying you thought that your mother, the almighty Queen of the Amazons, would leave your island and all her royal duties to come here, marry and live with a man you have never met before? That you wanted to play happy family?"

She looked down disappointed. "It sounds pointless and childish when you put it that way."

"I didn't mean that..."

"But it's the truth. Everything I have done since I found out I had a father was reckless and stupid. I'll go back and stick to what my mother wants to tell me. I need to talk to her now."

"So I´ll never get to see you again?"

She shook her head slowly and placed a strand behind her ear. "I'm sorry. It's really better that way... Maybe I´ll come back some day."

He didn't reply and started putting away the dishes Martha had washed earlier. She placed her hand on his shoulder, already knowing his warmth would burn her. "You have no idea what I've been through this last twenty four hours."

"Go back, Sophie. Do whatever you want. It´s the very same thing your mother did. Are you all Amazons such cowards?"

Her mouth dropped a mile. "You have no right to react like this!"

Alex turned around, and then he was standing just inches away from her. "Yes. I do, because I already..."

Sophie took a step back. "You already… what?"

"I already care about you." He spun again to reassume his task.

"I care about you too..."

He sighed. "I'm sorry. You are right. It's better if you go... I'm no one to tell you otherwise. We will never be a big happy family. This is wrong from the very beginning."

"You are my brother."

He nodded. "If you walk down the street and turn to the left where it ends you'll find the Plaza Hotel. It's a very nice place to stay."

"Thank you. I will go there, just so you know in case you need to find me before I leave tomorrow."

"Do you have any money?"

She patted her bag. "Yeah, my money issues are covered."

"Good. I would walk you there but I'm stuck here with Prim." Alex smiled apologetically.

"That's okay. Just walk me to the door. I will be fine. Remember what I said? I can deal with my own disasters…"

The boy nodded, as the memory made him chuckle.

Sophie said good bye to Primrose and hugged her sweetly, but the girl was engrossed in the movie. The princess knew would be nice to have siblings, but she didn't want to see their family ruined. They were a perfectly happy family, and she was a piece that didn´t fit. She wouldn´t stand in the way to destroy it. They headed to the main door when getting the redhead's attention proved to be hopeless.

"Thank you for inviting me here, Alex. It was really lovely to meet you. Good bye."

"You can still call me from the Hotel if you change your mind."

"I will." She smiled and hugged him fondly. "May the gods watch over you."

"Good bye, Sophie." He held her back. The Amazon pulled away slowly. Alex kissed her cheek and beamed. Then, he closed the door. She lifted her hand to her face and gazed into the darkening sky. It was star-spangled. And the stars glowed.

"It is, indeed, a beautiful twilight."

.-.-.-.-.-

Lois and Clark walked into the house not long after. The wife wore the white summer dress provided to her by Dinah Queen to replace her ripped outfit. The woman cursed over the fact it was ruined. And she was extremely annoyed because Black Canary wouldn't stop talking about Diana's daughter, inquiring about her as if she was a... She suppressed a swear word. Detective. Dinah seemed convinced that Sophia was Batman´s daughter. _I wish. That would be just too bloody brilliant._

Clark was wearing a fresh brown T-shirt and a pair of jeans he got from his own room at the Watchtower. There was an awkward silence between the couple and he extended his arm across her shoulders, pulling her closer lovingly.

"We really need to talk, darling."

"I'm afraid that talking will make things worse. I nearly lost you twice today, by death or by a break-up. Enough. I want a quiet night."

"Can I take you out for a nice, quiet dinner?"

"No."

He sighed. "I met a mistake Lois. I didn't think of the consequences. I did wrong and I'm sorry. It doesn't change the fact I love you. Very much."

"It doesn't change the consequences either. That girl is still your daughter and MY kids' sister... "

"She's an Amazon Princess. She will go back and we will never see her again."

"But she _is_ your daughter. Would you be just okay with that? With never seeing her again and just returning her to Diana, as if she never existed? Would you agree to never seeing the mother again? That despite the fact she already met Alex, which complicates things a lot further."

"Right now I have no idea... This is too sudden and complicated to make a decision right away. It´s not that I want her away... But she seemed to be discontent with what she found. I have no idea what did she exactly intended..."

"She's a teenager. She pretended to do the opposite of what her mother said... Actually, I pity her... She must be worried. I would die if Prim ever runs away like that..." The fact her head leaned his shoulder encouraged him to wrap his arms around her.

"So you're not mad anymore?"

"Of course I am! But motherly feelings are stronger..."

"Speaking of Diana..."

"What about her?" Lois hissed and shook his arms away. "If you have another confession... Keep it to yourself."

Clark pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her passionately. Lois was taken by surprise and responded to the kiss, snaking her arms around his neck. He stroked her back with his hand and intensified the kiss. It resulted in a purr of appreciation from the redhead.

"What was that for?" She whispered out of breath when they finally broke apart, resting her head on his broad chest.

"I´m _not_ in love with Diana. Is that clear?"

Lois nodded and sank onto the sofa, looking up at him as he spoke.

"Now, back to what I wanted to say -and it doesn't involve an affair with Diana-, you know she will show up, eventually, right?"

"What?" The sole idea was outrageous.

"She will be looking for her daughter... Where else would she look if Sophia came after me?"

Lois buried her head in her hands, groaning in frustration. "God, I didn't think of that."

"And I want you to let me face her." His tone spoke volumes. Clark would concede many things to his wife, but he was adamant about this request.

"After all these years, what do you think I will tell her? What can I tell her anyway?"

"I don't mean you'll say anything in particular... I'm just saying I want to be the one to face her."

"Are you saying you want me to leave you alone with her? Is that it?" Her low voice was an actual menace.

"I'm saying I want to be the one doing the talk."

"You know I will never get over this. It will get on my nerves every time you two are in the same room. And she's not welcomed under my roof."

"You´re overreacting."

"Have you lost your mind?" She shot up and placed her hands on her hips.

"You don't know her at all, Lou..."

"I don't..."

Lois was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.

"Saved by the bell." He mumbled, running his hand through his ruffled hair.

The reporter opened the door and took a step back in disbelief.

.-.-.-.-.-

Sophia's arrival had affected Bruce more than he would or wanted to admit. The girl brought Diana back to his mind in an instant, after all the years he had spent pushing her away. It still hurt as the very same day. She was the only woman he truly opened himself to... the only one brave enough to steal his heart. And she proved he had been right when he didn't allow it to happen before. After her daughter left, he sat in silence, fidgeting with the diamond necklace that brought so many memories to his mind. _To Diana, my destiny_. That was what he wrote when he bought it for her. It sounded like a sick joke when she wasn´t there anymore. _What had she been thinking when she kept it?_

Bruce saved it away and did the only thing he knew could help him escape his feelings and protect his sanity. Exercise. He changed up and spent a few hours in the training room. It was true he was older now, but a sheer determination had helped him to be as keen and quick in his movements as he was the first day. He trained a lot, and any woman could say it did pay the results. Bruce Wayne was the most wanted bachelor of all times. Too bad none of those women were the one he wanted, even though some did look like _her_. Those were the ones he did date.

The Amazon made him suffer, but he was in full shape and he didn´t feel a day older.

"I thought you could use some food, Master Bruce." Alfred said, walking in. The steak smelled wonderful. His stomach groaned and demanded to be satisfied.

"Thank you." Bruce replied and put his weights down immediately. Normally he would tell his butler to bring the dinner to the dining room and take a shower first. But he realized he was too hungry. He grabbed the cutlery and swallowed a mouthful. Yes, food does taste better when you're starving!

"What happened with Miss Sophia? She seems like a lovely young lady. I thought she was staying."

Bruce looked up and carefully measured his words. He knew his surrogate father too well to say he wouldn´t guess what he was really asking in his own subtle English way, since it was obvious he knew who the mother was.

"Alfred, I never told you what happened between Diana and me because I know you have a high esteem for her. But that girl, no matter how lovely she is, is not my daughter."

"And how would you know that?" He responded serenely.

"Because she told me so. She's Kent's daughter. "

"And you plain believed her?"

"I had no choice. That's what happened. Diana was sleeping with him too..."

"It doesn't sound like something Miss Diana would have done."

"I would really love to agree with you, but I can't."

"So you will lay back and watch?"

"Is there anything else I can do?"

"If it wasn't you, Master Bruce, I would call you an idiot."

He raised an eyebrow. "What would you do, Alfred, if you were me?"

"The mother's out of reach. I would face the alleged father."

"Are you saying she is my daughter?"

"I'm telling you to find out. I find it hard to believe she did such a thing."

"You are not making this any easier."

"I´m not trying to make it easier. I´m trying to make it right. I know you have a passionate heart… even though you try to hide it. And sometimes, listen to it is not such a bad idea."

"A passionate heart?" Bruce scowled. "Keeping a cold head is more important."

"Someday, Master Bruce, you will be my age. And maybe then, you will agree with me."

With those words, the Englishman left.

And that's why, after an hour of chewing on the butlers words, Bruce stood on the shadows, a few feet away from the Kent´s house. It wasn´t completely dark yet, but he could always find shadows, it seemed he could summon them himself. In all those years, he never cleared things up with Clark. Sometimes, he hated him. It was even easier when everyone else worshipped the man. Bruce wasn't jealous of that, of course not. He found it very superfluous, extremely annoying. Partly, he didn't face him because once he married and Diana left, it seemed unnecessary. Partly, he helped himself because he didn't want a confirmation of his fears. That despite the fact he wouldn't so openly admit that a woman stepped on his heart and betrayed him. Maybe his colleague was so clueless he didn't even know about him and Diana. _He always was._

That unless she got to tell him herself. That would just make it worst.

He was snapped out of his thought when he saw the goddess suddenly glow under the light of the porch. His heart jumped and his ragged breathing nearly gave him up.

Her glossy tresses fell upon her bare back, tangled with snow-white laces. Her well defined arms fell to her sides in a very regal attitude, her right hand dangling close to her sword. She was always the warrior on full alert. The golden belt embraced her slim waist tastefully and the ivory dress clung to her curves with a delightful grace. It didn't hide the glistening sandals.

The Queen also had a necklace seductively plunging into her cleavage, which she took in her hand, giving away the fact she was feeling restless. And at last, but not least, there was a glimmering tiara crowning her forehead with endless delicacy.

Yes, she had been a perfect princess before, but now there was something more magnificent about her, something that enhanced her royalty. She was a princess before. Now, she was truly a Queen.

Diana turned around and his gaze fixed on him, even when he wasn't visible. The same ocean blue eyes he could drown himself in. The same rosy lips he was dying to kiss. He looked away and left. He wasn't ready to face her. Not just yet.

Not until he knew he could stare into her eyes and resist the urge to take her in his arms.

"Don't be childish." Diana chided herself. "There's no way he's watching you from the shadows... Is it?"

.-.-.-.-.-

**A/N: Thanks for the comments! As you asked, I got Batman into this chapter (I´m sorry, but there are things that have to be settled down for the sake of the story ^^). Thanks for asking, because I actually like how it fitted! I promise now on it will be Bruce/Diana nearly 100%. Please stay with me, I promise I won´t quit the story as long as you review! :)**

**Sooooooo… now click on the little button and make my day *blinks and begs***

**Ozzy: Diana is caught between her previous knowledge of the world and the things she is learning, that´s why she also acts in the middle of those worlds, and her conception of a relationship was absorbed from Man´s world. As for Clark, he is a man and he made a mistake. If mistakes were logical and reasonable, then it wouldn´t be a mistake, right? About the pregnancy… you are a 100% right and the plot sticks to it, but only time will tell what truly happened ;) Keep reading!**


	10. The Queen s Speech

**THE QUEEN´S DAUGHTER**

**CHAPTER X: THE QUEEN´S SPEECH.**

Sophie slumped on the ample bed of the hotel bedroom after what was a really long walk. Being an Amazon, she wasn't tired. But a bit of rest was actually nice. The princess's eyes scanned the bright surroundings, gliding over the crystal lamps and the silky blue curtains. The place was, all in all, lush and tasteful. Her thoughts wandered around her mother and the new information she had so bravely acquired. The Amazon concluded there were only two options to explain the turn of the events: or her mother was in love with Superman and all her alleged feelings towards Bruce were a strategy to get his attention, or Mr. Kent was a big fat liar. That is saying, he really had an affair with Diana and actually dumped her to marry Lois. She didn't know the man, but it didn't seem impossible. After all, he wouldn't admit a behavior like that in front of his wife. _This is such a mess, and I brought it all on myself for being a reckless little… idiot. _She sighed.

Once the youngster had had enough digging in the situation, she decided some reading would do no harm. It will actually help her distract and relax. After a few hours of sleep, she would be ready to leave. Maybe she wouldn´t be ready to face her mother´s rage, but she was going to head back. Sophie extracted _The hunger games_ from her bag and the other books slid out too on tow with it. She stared at the cover and the author's name. But something else caught her attention before she had gotten through the first page.

Diana's notebook was in her hands before she realized what she was doing. Of course, the first thing the girl did after she left the island was opening it in the middle to check on its content, but it was nothing more than a draft of the book the Queen had started writing about her days in Man's world and the knowledge she had gained. And as Sophia was curious about the subject and wanted more information on her mother's activities –the woman´s secretiveness around it actually irked the young girl-, she opened it on the first page this time, to start the journey through the writer´s mind. She was beyond dumbstruck by what she found. The first page started with Diana's curly handwriting scribbling _July, 17th. What a night!_

Quite a _different_ kind of trip.

_So the first part of it is a diary! It is a fucking diary! By Hera! Will my list of mistakes just become endless? _And with the very first line she slapped her head again.

_Isn't it a curious coincidence that the very same night after what happened between me and Clark I went to a charity ball and tripped with Bruce?_

Clark, of course. All that conversation and she didn't get to ask the man's name. She only knew the _surname_ was Kent. She had to slap her forehead another couple of times. So he was her mother's kind and noble friend. Not the man who broke her heart. And that could only mean one thing. The man she was still in love with, the one who deceived her so badly, was Bruce. She couldn't yell at herself, but she truly wanted to reprehend herself for not picking up on the fact before. And then, the sudden realization lashed through her mind. Bruce Wayne was her father. _Shit!_ _It doesn´t make sense at all! _She looked down and kept reading.

_Diana had the plan of approaching Bruce the next time she met him, but luck wasn´t really on her side. After hearing of his break up with Selina Kyle, she had all her hopes up expecting he would be alone that night. She thought they seemed to be star-crossed. Many years later, she would indeed remember that thought._

_She heard the woman´s name was Thalia Al Gul. She was gorgeous. She definitely didn´t lack of wits and her arm curled around his like a snake. Diana disliked her immediately. The knot in her stomach told her it was pure unadulterated jealousy. She mentally complained of the fact Clark wasn´t there as a Daily Planet correspondent, as he usually did to support her on her role of Diana Prince, the Wonder Woman´s Foundation CEO. And watching them walk in and take a seat, she felt ashamed of the silk backless red dress she bought for the occasion. Something so sophisticated and beautiful before suddenly turned completely stupid._

_Diana was aware of Bruce´s identity, and she was sure he knew hers. He was the world´s greatest detective after all. And she knew all that playboy façade was just a cover, but she couldn't help it to get under her skin whenever she saw him with someone else. Even though she knew the real man. The man that should be hers._

_The princess sighed. And a few moments later, she sneered. It was obvious the new girlfriend didn´t dance, but she was certain her man would. His fame couldn´t afford it if he didn´t. She just had to stand close enough, she would be asked. And so she did._

_It took longer than the Amazon expected._

_She was already through her third shaken, non-stirred martini, when his hand extended to her._

"_Care to dance, Miss?"_

_Diana put her glass down and offered her most charming smile. "I would be delighted." When her hand landed delicately over his, she was already lost. His other hand encountered the naked small of her back and pulled her closer. She shivered at his touch, her mind flashing with thoughts of what he could do to her with those hands. The woman breathed in relief when he swirled her around and onto the dance floor, because otherwise her lips would have ended against his. She could tell his smile was completely false when he asked it._

"_So where is Mr. Kent? He´s not accompanying you tonight?"_

_She frowned. "He never is. He is just a friend."_

_He twirled her around and pulled her back towards him. "It doesn´t seem so…"_

"_How would you know?" She asked, looking into his eyes._

"_I am more informed than people usually like to think." He said with a seriousness that didn´t completely match her gentlemanly manners._

_The smirk that bloomed on her lips was full of delight anyway. "Have you been targeting me?"_

"_I might." He whispered to her ear. Diana felt her body shiver and her stomach go ticklish. But she forced herself to reply. She casted a side glance towards Thalia._

"_What about your girlfriend?" She whispered too._

"_Thalia is a friend…" It was stupid trying to deny the obvious._

"_Yes." She sighed with sudden sadness. "Men like you use to have a lot of _friends_…"_

_He sighed too and didn´t say a word. As Bruce Wayne, he couldn´t deny that statement. But his fingers gently drawing circles on her lower back said more than a thousand words._

_When the song ended and changed to one way more romantic, he excused himself promptly and walked away. She watched him go still feeling the goose bumps._

.-.-.-.-.-

Diana smiled warmly and gave Lois a tight hug. "Hello, Lois. It has been such a long time! How are you? Is Clark around?"

The redhead stared at her, flabbergasted. "Hello..."

But by the time she replied, Diana already left her and ran to Superman. He hugged her back.

"How are you?" She beamed. The joy of meeting her old acquaintances again was momentarily overcoming her worry.

"I'm very good, how are you, pumpkin?" He grinned.

She burst out laughing. "You will never forget that, right? I´m fine. Being a Queen is quite absorbing, but I'm great. What about you?"

"Queen? What happened to your mother?"

Diana's face suddenly filled with a shadow that engulfed all her joy and she pulled away from him, looking down. "Can we... go one step at a time, please?"

He nodded. "What brings you here, then?"

"My daughter..." She whispered, terribly dreading the long explanation that would certainly follow the statement.

"Yes. Regarding that subject..." He stopped and raised a hand to his ear. "Come in, J'onn." His expression changed. "I'm on my way."

Diana looked at him, curious. "Can you hold on for a little, Di? There's a volcano erupting in Hawaii..." He sighed with worried gravity.

"Want some help?" She nodded in understanding. "For the sake of the good old times?"

"John is already there. You just stay here." No one noticed the daggers Lois was shooting with her eyes. "I'll be right back." He kissed his wife briefly and took off. Diana smiled and turned to her, oblivious to why the reporter seemed so concerned and awkward.

"Are you okay, darling?" The Queen asked sweetly. She could be as charming as she was impulsive when she was mad.

Lois cursed her luck. She was trapped. "Yes... I'm perfect." She didn't put any questions; she had promised Clark he would be the one to face her.

"So... how's your child?"

"I have two." The reporter smiled. At least, she liked the topic and she mentally thanked the Amazon for picking it up. It was safe ground.

"That's... great. I hope he took it better the second time when you told him. He was a real moron the first time, but you surprised him. You should have seen his despair. That man loves you a _lot_. Do you know that?" The Queen giggled.

She looked at her in surprise. And not only because her giddiness was completely incomprehensible. "How did you know about that?"

"Come on... You really think he put that night up for you by himself?" Diana tittered again and raised an eyebrow. For her, it was just harmless small talk.

"I don't know. I guess I did."

"Well, he did remember that you like daisies and that you love Italian food. I helped picking up the movie -you nearly ended up watching _Gladiator_, if it had been up to him-, I gave some advices about the restaurant too. And of course, I advised diamonds and rubies instead of diamonds and emeralds for the ring." She finished, grabbing the reporter´s hand and showing her the ring to emphasize.

Lois jaw dropped down. "Did you really remember that day we went to the mall and I said I didn't like the first dress you picked because it was green?"

Diana shrugged. "Yes, your comment turned out to be very helpful, and not only because the scarlet backless dress was really gorgeous. I still have it. And you still remember too."

"Yes... I do." The redhead replied, astounded. Diana had actually done a lot to keep her and Clark together. She wanted to, but she couldn´t hate the woman.

The Queen smiled, unaware of Lois troubled thoughts.

"I'm very happy things turned this great for you two. I always thought you are a perfect match. After all, it's nice to know not all men are… jerks."

The reporter looked at her, intrigued. "What do you mean?"

"You got pregnant, you got a marriage proposal. You got lucky, I didn't." The comment was enough to turn Lois´s feelings upside down and enrage her. _Did Diana just say she was actually trying to steal my man?_ But the Queen didn't notice. "You know what happened the day I found out I was pregnant?" She changed her mind and stopped. "I don´t need to remember. I didn't even get to tell him." Diana paused and blinked. She didn't want her voice to falter or her tears to fall. "Sometimes I wonder if he's happy... if he still thinks of me... Shameful thoughts for an Amazon, right?" Her tone implied the sigh she didn´t gave.

Now, the reporter was confused and she tilted her head. "Wait. Who are we talking about?"

"Sophia's father, Bruce." The raven haired woman replied matter-of-factly.

Lois gasped in shock. _Now it does make sense._ "She is Bruce Wayne's daughter?"

Diana looked at her, dumbfounded. "Of course. Who else could it be?"

"But, Diana, then why in this world does she...?"

The conversation was interrupted by the piercing sound of pottery crashing to the floor and bursting to pieces. Both women looked up.

They met with an open-mouthed Alex staring at them. Prim was in his arms, holding half a cheese sandwich in her hand, her eyes fixed on the other half, which was resting over the shattered plate.

"Alex, my food is on the floor, why you drop my food to the floor?" The little one complained, frowning to her brother in disapproval.

Ignoring the situation with a roll of her eyes –she could scold him later-, Lois introduced the guest. "Alex, Prim, this is Diana. She is..."

"You're her mother. You're Sophie's mom." He mumbled in disbelief. The resemblance was indeed astounding.

"Yes. Where is she?" Diana asked eagerly, hope flashing in her eyes.

He was suddenly speechless. Prim looked at the raven haired woman and back to her sibling. "She look like your silly girlfriend."

That was enough for the Amazon's heart to sink. She pulled out her sword and aimed it at him.

"What have you done with my daughter?"

Extending her arms, Lois stepped between the Queen and her own child.

"Don't you dare threaten my son, Diana!"

"I would never hurt her!" Alex defended himself firmly, taking a step forward.

With a sigh, Diana replaced her blade and closed her eyes. "You must be very brave to face an Amazon Queen like that."

"You might be a Queen, and I'm not. But there are still things about this world that I know and you don't." Lois hissed in disgust, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm deeply sorry, that was very inappropriate. I didn't intent to hurt your kid. I think I'm just losing my mind out of worry... She´s still too young to be all by herself…" She shook her head slowly and rested it on her hands.

That softened the woman's heart considerably, but she didn't show it. She turned to her son instead.

"Where did you meet her? I think it´s time for me to know where have you been and what have you been up to. Spill."

Alex was staring at Diana in bewilderment and he didn't reply right away. She was definitely as beautiful and intriguing as her daughter. When he finally spoke, he didn't think of the consequences. "Gotham."

"What? What where you doing there?" He realized his mistake when he heard his mother's infuriated tone. "You know you have it forbidden to go to Gotham!"

He groaned and placed his sister down. "This is so unfair!"

Diana understood the prohibition; Bruce never liked having _metas_ in his city and Clark's child was certainly one. She didn't like the fact Sophie had been there either. Not a little bit.

"We have been over this a thousand times, Alex!"

The boy sulked. "I know. But the videogame store is _so_ much better there! I just wanted to buy a copy of _Battlefield 3_! What harm can that do?" He scowled. "And Ryan was there too. I had to get it first...!"

The scene deeply reminded Diana of her quarrels with her own daughter. She gently placed a hand on Lois shoulder. "Sometimes, we forget they are just teenagers. Don't push him too hard. He's a youngster..."

Alex looked at her with gratitude, but the mother wasn´t pleased or convinced still. "It's true. But you are not _any_ teenager, Alex. You have to keep that in mind." Lois breathed to calm down. "With great power comes great responsibility."

"Don't quote _Spiderman_ on me, mum. I hate that movie."

"I'm just asking for a bit more of responsibility on your side."

He looked down. "Fine..."

"Please tell me where´s Sophie gone." Diana pleaded once the argument was over, she couldn´t hold the question any longer.

Lois looked at her and opened her mouth to say something, but she held herself. She didn't know if she should tell Diana about Zora or not. And she didn't get the chance.

"She said she would be staying at the Plaza. It´s not far away from here."

The Queen breathed deeply in relief and asked politely. "Thank Hera! Would you show me the way?"

Lois picked Prim in her arms to keep her from toying with the broken dish and hurting her hands. A deep empathy made her unable to deny the Amazon her son's help to find the princess.

"I will. Just let me clean this up." He replied, running his hand through his hair. That will hold her mother from lecturing him over breaking the pottery too.

"That´s very kind of you." Diana nodded and sat down. Then, the little redhead watched her attentively.

"You Sophie mommy?"

"Yes. I am." She smiled.

"You no teach her play dollies. Bad mommy." The girl said gravely, placing her hands on her hips as her mother usually did.

"What?" The Queen´s eyes widened in astonishment.

"Alex say Sophie can't play."

For the first time during the long, hard day, Lois felt genuinely amused and burst out laughing. "She's a big girl, Prim. She doesn't play dollies."

The kid sighed. "Me want sister to play dollies."

The reporter was still trying to find a way to tell her youngest child she wasn´t having any more babies. All of her excuses didn´t seem good enough for a kid, the _I´m too old_ one included.

Alex put away the broom and slightly bowed to Diana. "We can go now, Your Highness."

The Amazon smiled and stood. "You can call me Diana." She then turned to Lois. "Good bye, Lois. Thank you! I hope I'll see you all again before we leave. Please tell Clark I´m very sorry I couldn't stay." She kissed the girl's head. "It was nice to meet you, Primrose."

The girl looked up, cuddling against her mother´s chest. "You play dollies?"

They all chortled. The mother hugged her lovingly. "I will play with you." She looked up again. "Good bye, Diana. I will tell him. Please don't be late, Alex."

He rolled his eyes. "I won't, mom. I'm _not_ a kid. Grandma made a cake. It's on the kitchen."

"That's great! I was wondering where is she gone." Lois put her daughter back down and the she speeded away.

Alex put on the jacket he had brought with him. "To pick up grandpa."

Diana grinned. "Oh, I will have to come back then! I do remember Martha's wonderful cooking..."

.-.-.-.-.-

"Did you meet her?" The youngster asked as they walked off the house and he closed the door.

"Yes, of course! I spent Christmas with them once... It was really nice. Your father and I used to be really close friends..." She answered, staring into the darkening sky.

"He told me." Alex nodded. "All of Superman and Wonder Woman's adventures... Well, _most_ of them."

Diana laughed. "I don't know if we can call them... _adventures_. It was our _responsibility_. It was during monitor duty at the watchtower that we got to speak a lot. Oh, I used to have fun here..." She sniggered.

His eyes opened wide and he nodded. "I know..."

"What?" Diana looked at him in surprise.

"I mean... why did you go back to your island?" He retorted, sliding his hands into his pockets. Talking to her was way less unnerving than he thought it would be. She didn´t have a temper _all_ the time.

Her expression shaded and she looked away, running her hand up and down her arm. "I had to attend to my... _royal obligations_. I never thought I would come back one day..."

"So you never thought of bringing Sophie here?" Alex questioned, signaling the corner where they had to turn.

"No, of course not. By _no_ means."

"Why not?"

The last thing Diana wanted was to start digging on her past relationship with the princess's father, so she came up with another question that would save her the answer and her real reasons. "Speaking of Soph... why did your sister say she's your girlfriend?"

The sudden heat told him his face had flushed. "Because that little girl has a mind of her own... She made it up when she saw us. Of course we didn´t _do_ anything… that would have been gross."

"I'm sorry for overreacting... I'm just worried no end about her. I hope I didn´t scare you."

He nodded. "Yes, I know you two are really close." Then, he smirked. "And I´m not… squeamish."

Diana looked at him with curiosity. "What did she tell you about me?"

"Well... we´re here." He pointed instead of replying.

The Queen examined the building's entrance. It was thirty storages tall, the door was all glass and gold, the inside glowed and it was crowded with colorful flowers. _At least, she's in a very nice place..._

They walked in. The ample lobby was full of mirrors that paid the trick of making it bigger and brighter. People rushed in and out happily. A crystal lamp hung from the ceiling and the shinning caught the Amazon´s attention. They approached the reception to ask for the princess.

"Hello." Alex said, and continued before the woman looked up. "We´re looking for a girl, she´s my age. She should have come here a little over two hours ago. Her name is Sophia. Have you seen her? She has black hair..."

"She's my daughter..." Diana chimed in. And when the blond receptionist looked up at her the resemblance shot her memory immediately.

"Oh, yes. I remember her, madam. She asked for a room, but we´re fully booked. She left. I'm sorry, I can´t help you."

"What?" Diana shrieked, out of air. "She's not here?"

"No, I'm sorry. Maybe she went to one of the closest hotels." The blond looked at Diana sympathetically. The Queen groaned and sat down in a brown leather sofa. She looked up to her friend's son.

"Where is she then? Where is my baby gone?" Her voice was full of despair.

"Well..." He mumbled. "I know someone _else_ she is acquainted with... maybe he can help."

"Who?" Diana asked, sheer expectation glistening in her gaze. "Tell me, whoever it is."

"Batman." He answered, proud of himself.

Diana's heart sunk to her very feet. She gulped and her eyes widened in shock.

"You have to be kidding me."

.-.-.-.-.-

When Bruce got back to Wayne Manor, he immediately walked in for a cold shower. Destiny seemed to be playing hideous tricks on him. He let the water run over his body for a long while, waiting for it to wash away his feelings. He had been doing so for the last fifteen years and it had already proved to be useless. He was still trying to figure out what did she do to break all of his defenses and turn his world upside down. No one else could ever put him over the edge like that. He finally turned off the water and went back to his room.

"I have to keep my mind on my work." He said aloud to himself, as if he could put such a command over his own thoughts. "Gotham is what's important."

And he truly believed it.

Bruce Wayne had to attend a charity ball that night. It wasn't his favorite thing to do... but it had to be done nonetheless. Since he was going without a date, he had to pretend to be on a pick up plan. He took out his best black Armani suit and stepped onto it. For once, he imposed himself the obligation of enjoying the night. He heard a knock on the door.

"Come in, Alfred."

"How did things go, Master Bruce?" The butler asked, walking in with the clean light blue shirt.

"How did you...?" Batman sighed, resigned and grabbed the clothing he was offered. "I didn't get any useful information."

"Did you get to do any talk at all?" He inquired.

"Sometimes, Alfred, I wonder who's really the detective here..." He chuckled despite himself. He really appreciated everything his surrogate father did and was still doing on his behalf despite his age. He refused the generous pension Bruce offered to grant him a peaceful retirement several times. The billionaire would have insisted if it wasn´t because the old man was still perfectly healthy, and because he understood Alfred needed to keep himself busy with that job as much as he needed to have him around.

The statement made the Englishman smile. "That´s because you tend to underestimate me, Sir. I must say this is your lucky day. Someone is here to see you."

"But who would..." His heart skipped a beat when he realized it, he didn´t need further information. Throwing him to the wolves –her presence- was more than his soul could bear. "Tell her I'm not here."

Alfred coughed. "With due respect, I refuse. You´re not known for being a coward."

"And coward I´m not." Bruce said defiantly, putting on the shirt. "It still doesn´t mean I´ll be pleased to see her."

.-.-.-.-.-

**A/N: Comments?**

**Gabriel TDO: They were together only once, that was the night he caught them. His guess that she was still seeing SM came from the text message, as he tells Sophie :) Thanks for the comment!**


	11. I m strong enough

**THE QUEEN´S DAUGHTER.**

**CHAPTER ELEVEN: I´M STRONG ENOUGH.**

The princess´s heart wrenched with her mother´s sadness and her star-crossed love. It wasn´t just curiosity anymore, she messed things up big time and she wanted to fix them the best way she could. She couldn´t if she didn't know. Sophie skipped a few pages ahead. She wanted, she _needed_ to get to the juicy part of the story. _Come on, mommy dearest. Did he love you? Did you love him? What have you both really done? _The wait was maddening. She sighed and read.

_After trying to bump onto her for a few days, Diana finally spotted Zatanna having lunch by herself at the Watchtower. A heavenly chance she would not forsake. Clark's words about Bruce's interest in her had the princess thinking, irking to know the truth, and she wanted to double check. The last thing she needed was to make a fool of herself when he rejected her plainly. She knew the magician had been spending time with her love, so she grabbed a glass of orange juice and sat down._

_"Hello, Tanna." The Amazon knew her friends called her that._

_"Hello, Di. What's up?" She asked, undistracted from her marvelous smelling chicken._

_"Not much, been a quiet day despite the volcano..." Diana smiled nonchalantly._

_"True, quiet and boring." She complained with a frown of pure exasperation._

_"Well, I have some questions for you. I hope they are not _boring_ too." The princess innocently toyed with her hair._

_"Shoot." Her eyes lightened with interest when she finally looked up._

_"It's about Batman..." Diana continued reluctantly. Suddenly, she wasn´t so sure anymore. She would still make a fool of herself if Zatanna confirmed what she dreaded._

_"He's good, but he can be a jerk. He can't team up and he certainly can't hold a conversation. Boring. Anything else?" Every glint of hope was gone._

_"That _wasn't_ my question. I want to know if you think he likes me. Because I don't know..."_

_The woman put her fork down and looked up at her again with her eyes wide open. Shock._

_"You can't be serious. You really like him?"_

_Zatanna's reaction crushed Diana's hopes. Was the situation _that _bad?_

_"I think I love him." She admitted sadly. The magician groaned and hit her head with her palm. "What's wrong?"_

_"That bitch! Now I owe Dinah fifty bucks."_

_Diana shook her head and frowned. "Why?"_

_"Because she said you wanted Batman and I said it was Superman. We made a bet and now I lose." She sighed and crossed her arms._

_Diana's mouth fell open. "You´ve been making bets upon my love life? Are you insane?"_

_Zatanna shook her head and laughed. "No, of course not, love. We made a bet over your sex life."_

_"Great Hera! This can't be true. I will not tolerate it!" She stood up and smashed her angry fist against the table. The steel twisted and dented under the pressure of her hand. The magician´s food survived only because she lifted the tray right on time. But the princess´s drink spilled and cascaded to the floor. An offended Diana shot fire at her with her glare._

_Zatanna gave up. The bet was lost and playing the match-maker would be way more interesting so on. She grabbed the Amazon´s arm._

_"Wait and sit down, woman. I was joking."_

_The princess smiled relieved and sat down again. _Thank Hera.

"_So there is no bet?" She questioned, intertwining her fingers._

_"Oh, yes, there is one. But it is indeed about your love life."_

"_I don't like it." She showed a very unfriendly frown._

_"Never mind. Now shut up and listen. Do it, I think you really have a chance. He's so... grumpy tough." She was about to protest again, but swallowed her pride for the benefit to get her answer. Because her face lit up with a smile again._

"_Well… good! So, now…?"_

_The colleague grabbed her arm. "If you want to have something you have never had, Princess, you have to do something you have never done."_

_"What do you suggest I do then?" She sighed her discouragement._

_Zatanna shrugged. "Strip off."_

_Diana stared at her in confusion. Too confused to take offense. "Strip off? What kind of twisted advice is that?"_

_She winked. "Well, he likes you, but I think the best chance you have is getting into his pants."_

_"But that's not what I want. I want a relationship." She tilted her head to the side, uncertain of why the woman was oblivious to something so obvious._

_"Well, it will turn out way better like that than if you go to him to ask for a bucket of flowers and an engagement ring. Please don't do that."_

_"Who said I want to get married?" The Amazon jumped back on her seat._

_Zatanna rolled her eyes. "You are unbelievable."_

_"I'm not going to undress in public." She tried to reason._

_"Who said you should? Get the man into a room with you, honey. I'm _sure_ you can do that. If it works out, you get the guy, if it doesn't, you still get to have a good time. I would bet a very good time. He seems that kind of guy."_

_"A good time? But I..." Diana blushed. She didn´t plan to discuss her private life._

_The woman smirked and snapped her fingers in understanding. "Oh, yeah, that's it. You are a virgin, aren't you?"_

_Diana blushed even more and looked away speechless. What could she say? Zatanna´s jaw dropped in awe._

_"Shut up! You are not! You have to tell me like right now! Who was it?" She squealed in excitement very much aloud._

_"Tanna, keep your voice down. You are making bets upon my life, you seriously think I'll tell you?" The princess hissed harshly._

_"That's disappointing." She pouted in discontent. Diana sighed feeling the same._

_"My sentiment is exactly. What if he rejects me? I don't want to go through that. To be honest, I don´t think I can stand it."_

_"Believe me, honey, he _won't_ say no. He has got the hots for you."_

_"What?" A clueless Diana inquired in confusion._

_"He wants to score a whole in one..." The magician whispered._

_"I still don't get it."_

_"Come on, woman, he wants to plunge his stick into your hole!"_

_Diana's jaw dropped down. "You don't have to say it like that!" Zatanna just chortled. "But I still want to know if it´s true."_

_The woman laughed more. "Sex is not overrated, is it?"_

.-.-.-.-.-

When Sophia finished that, she was shocking with laughter. The notebook slipped away from her hands, so she used them to grab her stomach. Oh, yes, she was astounded Diana didn´t rip Zatanna´s neck right there. Now, she regretted the fact she didn´t stop by to talk to her, even if it was only to say she met the woman who was betting on her mother´s love life and tease her to death. Once again, when she calmed down and regained her breath, the princess went a few pages ahead and kept on with her task. She didn´t stop to check on _every_ day, nor was every single day written down anyway.

_Diana was nearly dozing back to sleep as her head rested on Bruce's shoulder. He leaned next to her against the same counter she was sat on, eating in silence. He wasn't the best one with small talk, so when he spoke, his voice startled her._

_"I´m not so sure that starting this is a good idea, Princess..."_

_Diana put her bowl down, next to her on the countertop. She had to gulp before she looked up at him. Angst was suffocating. _Is he walking off on me?

_"Why not?" She bit her lower lip to help herself from confessing how much she loved him and how hurtful that would be, it would scare him off forever. Her eyes lingered on his mouth a whole minute before he replied._

_"Because we´re too different. Because dating a teammate always lead to disaster. We have to keep our minds en eyes in the battlefield, not on each other."_

_She closed her eyes and sighed softly. "It's a little too late for that, Bruce. And you know it."_

_He nodded unwillingly and kept going. "Because you are a princess of a race of immortal warriors and I'm just a rich kid with issues. Because I'll never forgive myself if my enemies hurt you to get to me..."_

_A scornful lop sided smile bloomed at Diana's face when she heard the last statement. It was way more likely she would lose him to his own foes than she ever getting hurt by the Joker. But she didn't say it. She gently placed her hand on his cheek._

_"And does any of those reasons change the way you feel... about me?" He stared into her ocean blue eyes for a long while and a faint smile twitched her lips when she could read his answer. "Because you can give me a billion reasons, one for each dollar you own, and it won't change what my heart wants. Not a little bit. And that is you."_

_"No. It won't change my feelings either."_

_The night before had been enough proof to Diana of the strong feelings the man held for her. The experience with Clark had been nice and enjoyable, but Bruce drove her wild with pleasure and made her squirm in ecstasy. It had been pure inexorable bliss. She was still half drunk with it when they did it again the next morning. He had her heart in his hand... and that was saying too much for an Amazon. She knew the same thought that helped her made her mind up and strip down for him would make him concede having a relationship with her. In their own way and terms, but a relationship at the end._

_"If you don't want me hurt, Bruce, don't hurt me yourself by leaving. I'm a big girl and I can deal with my own disasters."_

_And it was truth. The mere thought was a stab to her chest and she was praying to every deity she knew for him to stay. He only wrapped his arms around her, deep in thought. She shot her final dart._

_"What would it feel if you walk away now and in a few months you hear I'm off with someone else? Would you still think this isn't worth it? Am I not worth fighting for?" She whispered close to his ear._

_The swift image of a smiling Diana, his beautiful princess, dressed in white and clung to Kent's arm was enough to clear up all of his doubts. It would have been simply unbearable._

_Holding her closer against him, he kissed her ravenously, unleashing the passion he had been restraining before and making it clear for her that she was now _his_ woman. She responded eagerly and wrapped her arms and legs around him. His closeness was toxic, his touch was addictive. She didn't squeal the happiness of her victory because she was too busy tangling her tongue with his._

_When she broke apart out of air, Diana beamed and rested her head on his chest. His heart was pounding as fast as hers was. And nothing had ever made her heart race. Before him._

_"Do you always have an ace under your bracelets to get what you want, Princess?" He smirked, placing a soft kiss on her neck and holding her close._

_"I'm a spoiled princess. I always have them four." She chuckled, lovingly running her hand up and down his back._

"Wow." Sophia whispered, as she turned to the day before. This was how it all started.

.-.-.-.-.-

Diana wasn´t used to the piercing insecurity she felt before heading to Bruce´s mansion, but at the end she found herself staring at his door.

_"Do you want me to go with you?" A concerned Superman asked Wonder Woman, a little after he had entered the lobby of the Plaza himself and ordered Alex to go back home. The boy protested but did as he was told._

_"Thank you. But I have to go by myself. What kind of mother would I be if I couldn't face him for my own daughter's sake? What kind of Queen would I be if I were so weak?" She wrapped her arms around herself and looked down. Suddenly she was bothered by the fact it was all too bright. Thank Hera the couch was cozy and cold dark leather._

_"Fine. Be careful." He replied, sitting next to her._

_"You´re always worrying about me..." The woman smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder. He hugged her._

_"I am worried. You don't seem fine at all."_

_Diana´s sigh was full-loaded with sadness. "I just don't understand why she did it. I thought she trusted me, I thought I taught her well, I tried my best to be a good role model for her..."_

_"Diana, what did you do when your mother told you not the get off the island?"_

_She looked up to him. "I did it anyway."_

_He raised an eyebrow. "Do you regret it?"_

_The Amazon admitted reluctantly. "No."_

_He grinned. "Did it make her a terrible mother for you?"_

_The woman shook her head, making her curls bump gracefully. "Not at all."_

_"Did you love her any less because you did so?"_

_"Not a little bit." She blushed faintly, finally understanding._

_"Did anything prevent you from going back?"_

_"Nothing could have."_

_He smiled and rested his hands on her shoulders, letting her go. "She will be fine."_

_The Queen smiled back. "Thank you."_

Diana shook the memory of her conversation with Clark away from her mind and stared at the entrance for a long while before she gathered enough courage to ring the bell. The sudden disruption of the silence was very awkward. After so long, she wasn't sure what her reaction would be. Her trip wasn't completely selfless. She wanted to prove to herself that she was totally over him and that she wasn't mourning about losing him anymore. And she feared to find out it wasn´t so.

A gentle smile enlightened her features when the sight of Alfred at the threshold warmed her heart. She hugged him a bit too tight.

"Hello, miss Diana." He mumbled, surprised and out of air. She realized it and let him go.

"Hey, Alfred. It's been a long time." The Queen beamed.

"A long time indeed. It´s a lovely surprise to see you." He nodded with a smile

"Same. Is... Bruce around?" She dragged the words more than she should have, looking down.

The butler nodded. "He was about to leave, but I will go check. Come in."

The Amazon followed him into the garden and the Englishman returned to the house when she sat down. She was already feeling uncomfortable and it wasn't a good omen. The place was a soul-shattering fountain of memories. Beholding the dusk, her gaze fell first upon the swimming pool.

_It was a hot summer day. Diana was sitting at the border of the pool and Bruce laid beside her with his head on her lap. Her fingers were lovingly stroking his hair. He was nearly dozing and she suddenly snapped out of her reverie._

_"Are you tired, baby?"_

_"I'm fine, it's just the heat."_

_She leaned down and kissed him deeply. It surprised him, but he wrapped his arms around her. It was a long passionate kiss that stole their breath and made them squirm. Her heart was left hammering in her chest long after it was over._

_"Wow. I'm definitely much more awake now."_

_She laughed and shook her head. "What would you do without me?"_

_He sat up and shrugged. "I guess Alfred would do."_

_"I didn't know you got into his pants that often." Diana smirked amused and bit her lower lip._

_"I mean to wake me up... with a cup of coffee."_

_"Oh, good, I was feeling a little left aside. He's still the one who gets your outfit ready though."_

_"So?"_

_Diana rested her hands on her hips. "Come on, man up and face it. What would you be without your suit?"_

_He raised an eyebrow in mockery. "I would still be a super smart, very attractive billionaire."_

_She giggled. "Quoting The Avengers, huh? You are both, and strong, and brave, but you're incorrigible."_

_"You love me tough."_

_"Touché." She winked._

_"I have to add the suit would be way more useful if you stop trying to cover my back all the time, Princess."_

_She blushed and looked away. Guilty. "You are right, I'm… sorry."_

_"I know you are a meta and I'm not, but I have my ways too. You always say you can deal with your own disasters, I can too. I didn't like what happened to you yesterday, not a little bit."_

_"I know, but I had to help you get out of there..."_

_"I was going to find a way, trust me."_

_"I was scared... I've never felt like that before."_

_"You don't have to be." He grabbed her hands in his. "I´m hard to kill and you will never lose me." A heartfelt beautiful smile bloomed on her face, his words made her deeply happy. "But since you did it, now I owe you one."_

_With a playful grin, she answered. "I'm sure you'll find a way to pay me back."_

_And she discreetly pushed him onto the pool._

Diana sighed, blinking so her watery eyes wouldn't cloud the view of a magnificently grown garden with the glowing jasmines that smelled like her home. She turned her head away and her gaze fell upon the bench on the corner of the place, framed by a thousand color orchids. She still remembered the sweet, intoxicating whiff of the perfume.

_"Are you done yet?" Diana asked restlessly, toying with the fingers that rested on her lap._

_"Patience __is__ a __virtue__, _ma chère_. __Can you smile?"_

_She accommodated the white hat over her long ebony braid and obliged to his demand. "You know, you don't have to ask me to smile all the time. A kiss would do for that."_

_"Come over here, I´ll show you."_

_The Amazon promptly tiptoed to the other bench and sat next to him. Bruce leaned and kissed her softly, which resulted on the smile she had promised. She propped against him, resting her head on his chest and pouted. "That's cheating. It's not finished yet."_

_"I know, but you deserved the kiss you asked."_

_She kissed his cheek. "But it's amazing. You have an outstanding talent."_

_Bruce shrugged. "You can sing and write. I can draw. Actually, I did the first designs for the batmobile and the suit myself."_

_"So that's all I can do? Sing and write?" She raised her hand to her chest in offense._

_"Does is sound better if I say you sing like an angel?" He grinned._

_She slapped his arm playfully. "So I'm not _wife_ material then?"_

_"I'm not husband material either." He shrugged._

_"Not for any other woman, but for me, you are."_

The Queen wiped a tear of her cheek, embarrassed of her weakness. _How could I have ever guessed...? _Once again she looked away. Everything was a new painful remembrance. It seemed all so recent... and suddenly she could just go mad. Because it was too vivid.

_Diana moved her Queen with an elegant twist of her well-polished hand._

_"Check." She smiled with feigned innocence._

_He moved the black bishop so with a single move it protected his King and threatened her Queen. She backed out scared and frowned._

_"I didn't see that one coming."_

_"That's because you're a rookie."_

_She smirked widely, proud of her own wits and moved her knight triumphantly._

_"I wouldn't be so sure. Checkmate!"_

_His face transfixed with surprise as she shook her arms in the air in celebration._

_"How did you do that?"_

_"Oh, if I tell you, I would have to kill you after."_

_"You do know how to amaze me, woman."_

_"Sure thing I always do." She winked._

_"Fine, it was a flawless victory." He conceded._

_"You know what comes next." She battled her eyelashes beaming._

_This time, it was horror what transformed his features. "Mortal kombat?"_

_"Haha, very funny. This princess can get her _fatality_ later, but now, I get to drive the batmovil. Woohoo!"_

_Bruce grimaced. "Can you pick something else?"_

_She walked around the table and sat on his lap, straddling him. Her arms wrapped around his neck._

_"Let me think... No."_

_"And is not driving it the only thing you want, right?" There was a half-smile when he said it._

_She whispered to his ear seductively. "Actually, that was your idea, but I'm completely up for it."_

Diana had to smile to herself then. _And that was quite a night._

"Hello, Diana."

When she heard his voice, the Queen squirmed and turned around immediately. Air escaped her lungs and suddenly the void was a whirlpool drowning her. Dressed up in the black Armani suit and sixteen years older, the man was more tempting than he had ever been. And her last memories didn't help a bit. She wasn't ready to face him again. She tried to deny it, but the truth was self-evident: she was still head over heels in love with a man who dumped her without blinking an eye. And despite how much she fought it, it wasn´t rage what she felt.

"Hello, Bruce." She managed to respond.

If there´s something you need to know about Batman is that he doesn't wear a mask, he is one. Anything can be hidden when it's needed to.

Surprise left him abashed when Alfred announced that his former lover was waiting downstairs and somehow forced him to meet her. She was still the love of his life and facing her again was not a very pleasing thing to do, but he wanted to prove to himself that he could survive the experience. Without love. Without anger.

His heart skipped a beat against his wishes.

"How are you?"

He descended the stairs and reached the garden, standing a single step away from her. Diana felt her skin tingle at his closeness.

"I'm alright, thank you. How are you?"

When he spoke and inhaled the smell of her hair, it was excruciating. She still owned his heart.

"I'm fine too."

Diana looked down awkwardly, mostly to avoid looking into his eyes and jumping over him. She needed the comforting feeling of his arms around her, she wanted him to say that everything had been a nightmare. She longed to hear he loved her. But it wasn't what she said.

"I'm sorry to intrude like this. But I'm looking for my daughter Sophie, and Alex, Clark´s son, told me you've seen her." She spoke slowly and her eyes scanned everything, unsure of where to set.

He was dumbly disappointed to find out Kent was again the first person she turned to. She fiddled with her hair considering if telling the truth or keeping it for herself. That was if he didn´t figure it out on his own already.

"She was here, she was fine. But she´s not under my roof anymore." He slid his hands onto his pockets.

"Do you know where is she gone?" The mother pleaded for an answer.

"She didn't tell, but she won't be coming back."

"Thank you." She sighed and turned to walk away.

"She is a wonderful girl. She deserves to know the truth you denied her."

Diana stopped and swiveled towards him. Then, she _was_ angered and her eyes didn´t hide it. "Didn't she ask you?"

"I told her everything I know, and she left to find Kent."

Then, realization suddenly hit her. Her wrath grew. Bruce told Sophia that Clark was her father... but why?

The Amazon frowned. "You told her...? You're nuts!"

"I just told her the truth. What comes out of it is not my fault." The lack of emotion in his voice was piercing her. She gritted her teeth out of fury.

"I hope it was actually the truth. I never understood what you did."

He scowled too. "Do you think I understood what you did?"

Bruce grabbed her arm instinctively and the touch made her jolt and shiver. The Queen decided to leave before her feelings forced her to indulge into something she so deeply desired but would truly regret. She shook her arm away and hissed, mostly because otherwise her words would have been a sob. "Don't touch me!"

Diana shuddered once more and crossed her arms. She hated everything he made her feel.

"Don't worry, woman. I´ll never touch you again. I won't."

His words weren't meant to say he didn't _want_ to hold her and make love to her again, but she was unaware that his heart was still hers. She only accepted the fact she would never get hers back.

She was strong enough to live without him. He was strong enough to know he had to let her go... again.

And the same way she did 16 years ago she gulped her pain and fledged her pride, turning around, walking away. She didn't wipe the silent tears that soaked her cheeks when she did so. He didn't stop her.

But the concern in Alfred´s voice when he ran down the stairs to meet them did the trick.

.-.-.-.-.-

**A/N: Thanks for reading and for your wonderful support. Comments, please?**

**GabrielTDO: Yes, FINALLY someone got my point! :P They have ALL done something wrong, so they have to just go over it! :P And I´m so glad you love it. Thank you!**

**Amberrose: Thanks so much for reading and commenting! And I´m glad you think I got Bruce and Clark right ^^ It means a lot! Well, Lois was hard to portray but I think the situation should irk her no end. Your husband suddenly having an illegitimate child? Go figure! And yes, Diana overreacted but that is just our Queen ^^**


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